


A Giovanni Garau Season

by lionheart8



Series: (My) Skam Italia Seasons [1]
Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: F/M, Family Issues, Gen, M/M, a season fic, mom friend gio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-03-26 12:45:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 63,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19006075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionheart8/pseuds/lionheart8
Summary: Like the title states this is my take on a "Giovanni Garau Season"!





	1. Episode 1 : Biting His Cheek

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!
> 
> I finally gave in and decided to write what we all have been asking for: the Giovanni season.
> 
> This is the first chapter aka the first episode. I organized it in clip form with days and hours to make it seem like the show.
> 
> The fic starts at September 2019 so it's the beginning of their senior year.
> 
> The plot is my ideas combined with the head canons and suggestions I got on Tumblr.
> 
> Basically, gonna be Gio being a mom friend trying to take care of people while he struggled with his home life and future. 
> 
> There's gonna be lots of boy squad involved.
> 
> Hope you'll like it!!

**_Lunedi 08:05 - Regular Morning_ **

Gio got dressed to his usual clothing with some jeans, a grey t-shirt and a blue zipped hoodie. He got out of his room and started to walk towards the kitchen at the end of the corridor. He could smell the freshly made breakfast and coffee. 

It was only the third week of school but because they were seniors the classes were already getting hard. Nothing Gio couldn’t handle though.

He walked into the kitchen and saw his brother, father and mother sitting on the table already. The table was a square one and his father was sitting on the right side with his mother on his right and his brother on his left. So the only seat left for him was the one opposite his father. Gio laughed inside at the ironicness of it: just the fact that they were on the opposing sides, facing each other. His father was reading a newspaper and Gio rolled his eyes embracing himself for an ignorant comment coming later. 

He sat down and started to eat his toast. Nobody was saying anything: basically a regular morning in the Garau household. 

He was almost finished with his breakfast when his father Fabio put down the newspaper and announced his opinion nobody really asked for:

“I think this country should do it like US and ban abortion all together. Even with ‘conscientious objecting’ it’s still not enough.”

Nobody sayid anything in return except his mother Greta silently nodding.

Gio was dying to say something, anything really but most importantly something along the lines of “You don’t get to make that decision as a man.” Instead he bit his cheek and shoved the last piece of his bread to his mouth. 

He got up and poked his brother:

 “Come on.” 

Then with his back turned to them facing the kitchen door he said:

“Goodbye.” to his parents.

Him and his brother quickly grabbed their bags lying in front of the door and left out. His brother Marco was five years younger than him and sadly so too much like their father. _Gio had been trying so hard for Marco to not turn out like that but the kid was idolizing their father so all his tries were empty._

They kept on walking up to the bus station. 

Gio would drop Marco there every morning. It wasn’t something his parents asked for; in fact, he wasn’t so sure they were aware of it but he did it anyway. He just wanted to keep an eye on his little brother as long as he could. Marco never asked for it either though he wasn’t complaining. Gio knew Marco took these morning walks as an opportunity to talk about whatever game or comic he was obsessing about to fill Gio’s head. 

Today, it was the good old Peter Parker that Gio used to read a lot too. 

“I am gonna ask for an action figure for my birthday this year.” said Marco beaming. 

Giovanni knew there was no way his father would get that but he smiled anyway. 

“Good choice buddy.”

When they finally reached the bus stop Gio was watching the street adamant to leave while Marco blabbered on about Spider-Man. A few minutes later Marco said:

“You know you can go Gio. I could wait for the bus myself.”

Gio turned to him thinking about the boys’ suggestion. He looked at the clock and then to his brother and then to the road again:

“Fine. But only because I will be late for my own school.”

“Yeah because you are never late.” Marco said with a smirk. 

Gio just smiled shaking his head:

“I got to make fun of you. Not the other way around.” He then added,

“Do you have your medication?” He said referencing to the asthma medication Marco had to carry with him all the time. 

The little boy groaned:

“Yes.”

Gio who always checked twice stood his position, determined not to leave:

“Show me.”

He waited a few seconds while Marco fumbled in his bag to find it. Only when Giovanni saw the medication in his hand that he turned around to go to school.

 

* * *

 

**_Lundi 09:15 - Luchino Charm_ **

Gio was chatting with the boys at the gate. He was leaning against the wall with Elia and Luca either side of him and Marti directly opposite him. He and Marti still had their bags on while Luca’s was thrown on to the ground and Elia’s one was put up on the wall. 

“So how’s Nicco?” Luchino asked. 

“Great. He loves the film program so much.” Marti said smiling brightly and Gio felt happy seeing how happy his best friend was for his boyfriend. 

Luca stomped his foot like a little kid and groaned:

“I want to go to university too.”

Elia laughed:

“I hope it’s not for girls because I know it’s harder to get a girlfriend in university.” He said shrugging his shoulders with a twinkle in his eyes.

“First, how do you know that? Second, I got my heart on somebody else."

Gio was just watching his friends talk and he couldn’t help but laugh at Luca’s remark remembering his not so little crush on Silvia. 

Elia put on his cockiest smirk:

“I have had my fair share of experience with university students.”

He winked at Gio which only increased Gio’s laugh. 

“How? When?” asked a very confused looking Luca.

Gio pushed Elia slightly on the side to get him to stop messing with the naive Luca.

“Don’t mind him. He has a secret life. Tell us about who has your heart.”

Luca suddenly got all quiet and looked down. Gio could see his face turning to red. Over the summer Luca’s crush on the girl had only grown and now that the school was open again he desperately wanted to do something about it. 

“It doesn’t matter she’ll never look at me.” Luca said still looking down. 

Luchino was really like a little kid and that made it easier for Gio to deal with him because Gio already had a kid he looked after at home.

“Because she hasn’t seen the Luchino charm yet.” Gio said.

Then he proceeded to hold and shake Luca to give him more energy. The other two boys were laughing too.

“Even if she doesn’t see that you’ll find the right girl Luchi.” said Marti.

“Yeah!” Elia shouted which earned them a couple of glares from around.

That Elia shout finally made Luca laugh so he went back to his own authentic self that couldn’t help but ask kinda inappropriate questions. He turned to Gio:

“What about you and Argentina? Are you really over?”

To which Gio, Elia and Marti all said in unison:

“Sophia!” correcting Luca shaking their heads. Gio could see Marti making a facepalm in front of him.

Gio nodded in return saying a silent, “Yeah.” that contradicted Elia’s loud one before. Then he added, “It wasn’t going to work as long distance."

Him and Sophia had broken up over the summer because since she was an exchange student she had to go back to Argentina. None of them wanted to keep it as a long distance relationship no matter how much they liked or maybe loved each other. He put in so much work to that relationship. He looked back and thought back to all of his old mistakes especially with Eva and did the complete opposite. Like he listened to her so much, he never made fun of her, he was as honest as one can be... In return, Gio actually had a great time with her, he was truly happy. So it was a bummer to him that they broke up but it didn’t crush him completely either. And they were staying friends too. Because there was the distance factor staying friends was gonna be easier than with Eva. 

Marti was the one to bump him on the shoulder from across to take him away from his thoughts:

“You’ll find the right girl Gio.” 

All four boys laughed and Gio pushed Marti back as a reply. 

 

* * *

 

**_Mercoledi 16:36 - Nobody Can Beat The Contrabbandieri_ **

 

Gio was with boys playing _gitoni_ (table football). Nothing surprising really, they were playing it at least four times a week. People would think they would be bored of it by now but they were just getting started. 

The four boys loved all forms of football games whether actual football, table football or video games football. They kinda got into table football after they adopted Luchino to the group. Before that they were either out playing actual football or at home playing FIFA. 

Gio didn’t have a preference. He went with whatever the other boys chose. _It was fine to him as long as the boys had fun._ It was the same with other things too. He’d want to go to a party only if the majority of the boys wanted it too. 

Today, the teams were Gio and Marti versus Elia and Luca. This was their usual teams in which Gio and Marti almost always lost. So Elia and Luca was happy with their teams, barely wanting to change. 

Elia had scored yet another goal to the goalpost Gio was supposed to cover for. 

“Yeah!” he basically shouted at the faces of Gio and Marti.

Then turned around to high five Luca who was jumping up and down. 

Meanwhile, Marti turned around to Gio and pushed him aside:

“Come on.”

Gio smiled:

“It’s not like you are scoring anything either.” he said pushing him back.

“Maybe I could help.” said Nicco who just came in. 

Gio looked up and smiled at him. The two were best friends, proper best friends now. It started of as both of them trying to be nice to each other for the sake of Marti. True, Gio liked him and approved of him way back in the cabin when they first met. It was clear from Marti’s face that Nicco was making him happy and that was the only criteria for Gio to approve him.

Their friendship came within the time though. Nicco started to hang with the boys more and Giovanni saw that he was fun to be around. He made jokes and he took part in their shenanigans. So Gio started to like hanging out with him. As more time went along Gio saw Nicco in his best and worst. They talked, they opened up. 

Sometimes when Nicco was feeling too tired and didn’t want Marti around Gio would be the one to sit with him. Another time when Marti had to be somewhere else for school Gio came over to make sure Nicco ate something. Because he was so bad at cooking he had to call Elia up and well, Elia didn’t come alone he brought Luca too. 

After he was better Nicco would always be so thankful. He even made a short movie for the three boys which made them tear up (even though Elia denied everybody knew he teared up too).

Their friendship peaked through the whole run ins with that homophobe gang last year. Gio would still get so angry every time he thought about that night. His knuckles would hurt and his eye would burn almost like a reminder of it all. He wished he could’ve smashed the face of that boy who hit Marti more. Nicco and Gio bounded over their shared love and worry of Marti. Ever since then Gio was very careful every time he was out with the couple. He would start off with sending death glares to anyone who dared look at them for more than one minute. Sometimes he would talk back at them only to be held down by a really struggling Luca who had a hard time calming down both him and Elia.

The moment Marti saw Nicco he abandoned the match and went up to him to give him a kiss. They shared a quick peck on the lips so the boys really couldn’t complain but Elia found an opportunity. He laughed and said:

“Must you really rub our singleness on our faces?”

Gio answered him with raised eyebrows and a laugh he was holding back:

“I thought you liked being single.”

Elia shrugged off his shoulders:

“Even Elia Santini has a heart people.”

By now they have all abandoned the match and was just standing next to the table chatting. A still beaming Luca turned to Nicco and asked:

“So how’s university?”

Which in return only brightened Nicco’s laugh:

“Amazing. I’ve already shot two short movies.”

Gio high fived him with a big smile. 

Nicco was studying what he loved and its effect was clear on him. It seemed like he was truly enjoying going to university. Gio had a neutral relationship with school. He didn’t hate it but he didn’t love it entirely. He loved classes like history or any class where he got to write some opinion essay. _He wished he was as lucky as Nicco to be able to study what he liked._

Elia was leaning against the table:

“What about friends? You are not forgetting us are you?”

Him and Luca were making puppy eyes at Nicco which send everybody laughing. Nicco had his hand on Marti’s shoulder and Marti’s arm was wrapped around Nicco’s waist. Nicco only leaned more into Marti while answering:

“How could I? Nobody can beat the contrabbandieri.”

Gio cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted:

“Contrabbandieri!” and started to clap.

So the other four boys joined him too. Nicco was clapping and cheering, Marti was clapping as well but his clapping was slower. Meanwhile, Elia had thrown his arm around Luca and the duo were jumping and cheering “Contrabbandieri” at the same time. 

This whole cacophony earned them a lot of looks and a “Shhh!” from the owner. Gio quieted down but kept his smile thinking that their new brand was to earn glares for their loud noises. 

 

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 18:40 - Double Check_ **

 

Gio and Marco had been skating at the skateboard park for an hour. Marco had been begging Gio to teach him some new moves for two weeks now and Giovanni had finally given in. 

He would show Marco a move step by step and give tips then watch him repeat it. Then, Marco would do it again and again to “save it into his memory”.

Marco loved football just like his brother (and most of Italy really) but their parents didn’t want him to play due his asthma. This was Gio’s solution. Marco was still moving around and being active with the skateboard but it didn’t involve running or jumping around. Also, it was pretty individualistic so Marco had the chance to stop whenever he felt like it.

One rule was that he wouldn’t go out skating alone. Gio was to accompany him. His parents weren’t too happy with the skateboarding plan either but they still gave their approval. Their mom was trusting Gio and she was the one to convince their father. Still, the two brothers were generally keeping it wrapped when they went skateboarding. 

Gio decided to check up on his little brother like he has been doing every 20 minutes:

“Hey, you good buddy?”

They were still on their skateboards. Marco got faster and Gio could sense that he was rolling his eyes:

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Gio stopped abruptly and started to watch Marco. It’s not that he didn’t believe him. Their agreement ever since Marco was like six years old that he would tell Gio when he was bad. Still, his instinct of worry made him double check everything. 

Marco finally turned around and stopped in front of him:

“What?”

Gio wasn’t gonna tell him that he was checking on him so:

“You need to study your stopping.”

Marco folded his arms in front of him:

“I thought I was good at it.”

Gio shook his head up and down approvingly:

“You are good for using your foot as brakes. But you can master a cool stopping like me.”

Giovanni then started to skate with a moderate speed. He made a full tour of the park only to come back to where Marco was standing and stopping with leaning back on the skateboard lifting one side up.

“I can do that too.” Marco said and immediately hopped on his skateboard. 

Gio guessed, to show that he was just as good Marco was skating faster than he was. When he came back to where Gio was standing he attempted to do the same stopping. He lost his balance a little but didn’t fall down.

Gio shook his head up and down approvingly once again and gave Marco a thumbs up:

“Not bad for the first time.” 

Marco put on a smirk and shrugged:

“See I told you.”

While Gio stood at the same point Marco did a couple more tours and tried the same stopping. He was getting better with each one. Gio thought that Marco was gonna learn it all faster than him. 

Giovanni missed Marco's last stop because he was checking his phone and replying to a couple of texts from the boys. So, he also missed Marco walking to his backpack and inhaling his medication. When Gio looked up he was walking back with his medication in his hand and his backpack on his shoulder.

He kept his eyes on Marco’s hand until they were facing one another.  

Gio gulped:

“I think it’s enough for today.” and put his phone back to his pocket while cursing himself for ever looking at it.

Marco groaned and threw his backpack on the ground:

“Gio-

“No.” Gio said shaking his head firmly. He was generally a fun brother who allowed everything but he knew when to get tough too. 

Marco groaned again and picked up his backpack and skateboard.

When he passed Gio, he tried to ruffle Marco’s hair but the little boy managed to escape. 

Gio took a deep breath and sighed grabbing his own backpack and skateboard.

Maybe he didn’t know how to look after a little kid completely. 

 

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 19:30 - Biting His Cheek_ **

 

Gio and Marco entered the house to hear their parents’ yelling from the door. After the little entrance the door directly led to the living room with a corridor on the left side. The boys dropped their backpacks and skateboards at the door. 

Gio put a hand on Marco’s shoulder to instruct him to wait as he made his way to the living room.

“HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO EXCEED THE WEEKLY BUDGET?” he could hear his father yell.

“I WAS USING MY OWN MONEY SO WHAT IS IT TO YOU.” his mother yelled back just as Gio stepped in. Gio recognized the emphasis on ‘my own’.

“I AM THE ONLY ONE WORKING.” his father yelled once again with a harsher tone pointing at himself. Gio felt kinda angry at his remark, the fact that his father was using this against his mother. 

“AND YOU ONLY HAVE THAT JOB THANKS TO MY BROTHER.” she answered and Gio sensed a little condescending tone in her voice. 

Just before his father could answer with another shout he cleared his throat to get their attention. Both heads snapped back at him. Gio sweared if it wasn’t for his brother he would have walked away and just let them fight. 

“What’s going on?”

His mother's face swapped from a furious one that was going red into a kind one with a tiny bit of smile:

“Nothing honey. We were just talking.”

Sometimes Gio wasn’t able to bite his cheek:

“It didn’t seem like you were talking.”

His father’s face didn’t swap only changed the point the anger was directed at:

“What is it to you?”

Once again Gio wasn’t able to bite his cheek thinking about his brother standing outside. He looked back at the door then to his parents:

“Only that I just came home with Marco to find you going crazy.”

Gio reached his goal because his father was no longer yelling at his mother but instead yelling at him:

“HOW DARE YOU CALL US CRAZY?”

 _He knew after 18 years of being his son that he shouldn’t talk back so he was back to biting his cheek and not answering._

Well, today this didn’t work with Fabio Garau instead it got him more angry:

“And where were you up until this hour?” he said pointing at the clock. 

It was at the exact moment that his father was done with his sentence that Marco stepped in:

“It’s not late and we were only skateboarding.”

Gio closed his eyes and took a deep breath. That was a mistake saying where they were. 

His father was back to yelling:

“YOU TOOK YOUR BROTHER THERE? DON’T YOU KNOW THAT HE SHOULDN’T DO THAT.”

Gio looked down. He was determined not to answer back. He clenched his fists and tried to imagine that he was somewhere else maybe over at the cabin with the boys or at the park playing football. It was a trick he always did. It wasn’t like he was getting ready for a punch. He just poured all his anger and feelings into that squeeze, that tightening of hand so that he could stay quiet. Because he knew answering back wasn’t going to solve anything; because it never did. Every time he tried to do that he would be the one even more in the wrong. He would get more yelled at, his punishment would be extended, his playstation would be taken away. 

His mom stepped in but not to defend the boys, to back up her husband:

“You know you have to tell us when you go skateboarding.”

Gio didn’t see it but he knew she was looking at him angrily with a tightened chin. He also knew that Marco was looking at him apologetically and was fumbling with his t-shirt. 

Marco tried answering for him once again:

“We were careful-

But he was cut in by their mother:

“We have to talk to your brother alone honey. Come on, you go to your room.”

Only then Gio looked up to nod at Marco to send him to his room. He looked at Marco and pointed inside to the direction of the boy’s room to say that ‘it was okay.’ 

Marco sighed and mouthed ‘sorry’ at his brother. Gio gave him a tiny smile trying to reassure the little boy once again saying ‘it was okay.’

His little brother left and Gio sulked into the couch getting ready for all the shouting he was about to receive. 


	2. Episode 2 : My Own Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, here is the second chapter!! I would love to hear your feedback or just what your predictions are!

**_Sabato 18:22-Staying Friends_ **

Gio was in his bedroom, sitting at the wooden brown desk with his computer opened up in front of him. Some acoustic song was playing in the background. 

A page of the _“Sapienza University of Rome”_ was open. He clicked on the ‘faculties’ link. Their internet connection wasn’t the best so even opening a simple page required a minute of waiting. He ruffled his hair and leaned back on his black chair.

When the page was finally opened he leaned forward again and read through the faculties. He saw the link of faculty of ‘Political Science, Sociology, and Communication Science’ at the bottom. He sighed and clicked on the link of the faculty of ‘Law’ instead.

He first opened the ‘Who We Are?’ section under the faculty but seeing how long it was he just scrolled through it scanning it with his eyes. He wasn’t much interested in the history or the mission of the university.

He then opened the ‘Persons’ section and looked through some of the names of the professors and teachers. He googled a couple of names to see if anything popped up about them to get him pumped about their classes. They sure were interesting people but not much interesting for Gio. 

A new song came up and he didn’t like it so he opened his music and chose another one. When he was finally satisfied with his background music he went back to the internet page.

He sighed and clicked back on web to look at the faculties again. His mouse lingered on ‘Political Science’ faculty’s link but he didn’t get himself to open it.

True, he was confused about what to study. The guidance of his parents’, especially his dad’s, was towards law and he was considering it. Studying law, becoming a lawyer or doing any job in the court or something didn’t interest him but _who he was to argue against his father, right?_ Anyway, if he wanted to criticize things or go up against injustice he could do that with law too. 

He sighed once more and dropped his head on the computer. He had been sitting like that for some time when his computer beeped. He raised his head and saw the source of beeping was the Skype and it was Sophia calling him. They had this weekly Skype arranged.

Gio fixed his hair then opened up the call.

“Hi!” Sophia greeted him with a big smile.

Gio smiled back at her, “Hi!”

Then Sophia started to laugh and Gio in an instinct looked down at himself to see if something was wrong:

“What?” he said. 

Sophia was still laughing:

“Were you just asleep?” she said pointing at his forehead.

Gio looked at himself at the screen to see that his forehead was red probably from proping it down on the computer. He laughed back:

“Yeah, kind of.” he answered. “So how’s it going?” he added.

“Good.” she answered with a smile. She would almost always smile and it was always so bright and sincere. One of the things that drew Gio to her really.

“How was the volleyball tournament?” Gio asked.

She clapped, “Great! We finished second.” 

Gio high-fived at the camera which send Sophia laughing, again. 

“How about you? How’s school? How’s Rome?”

Gio shrugged, “Well, not much changed since last week.”

She raised her eyebrows, _“Did you finally tell your father that you don’t want to study law?”_

Ouch, she knew where to hit. Sophia was the one person Gio told most about his family. Not even the boys, not even Marti knew the extent of the ignorance of his father and they certainly didn’t know the extent of their high expectations or that they wanted him to study law for years. He probably told Sophia all this because she was new. Even with Eva, before they started dating they’ve already known each other for a few years. To be fair, Luca was new to them in terms of the amount of time but it felt like he has been a part of the group for years; so not telling him anything either.

_Also opening up too much meant for Gio that people would worry about him and that was his role : to worry._

“I might want to study law.”

She raised her eyebrows again. 

“I might get used to it.” Gio tried this time.

Another raised eyebrow.

He raised his hands in defeat this time. 

“Fine. But I’m still confused.”

She smiled, "I take that as the answer.” 

A few seconds passed and she asked: 

“Any new foreign girls on the volleyball team?”

Gio’s eyes widened at her question and how comfortable she was:

“Soph! Are you seriously asking that?”

She shrugged and laughed:

“What? We are friends. I can ask that.”

He shook his head and laughed. Indeed they were staying friends and it was working. He was taken aback but he was happy that she was asking, that they ended things on such good terms that she could ask that. He couldn’t help but think that _maybe they should have been friends from the start._

* * *

 

**_Lunedi 13:45-Wizard of History_ **

It was Giovanni’s favourite class : history. He liked it because he got to learn about world history, obviously, which helped him make sense of today. Also, he absolutely loved it when he got to argue against the common doctrine or just against the teacher.

He was sitting next to Marti and Elia was at the desk behind them. 

Elia tapped his shoulder with a pencil:

“So, what are we doing this Friday?”

Gio turned his head only halfway not wanting to be scolded for speaking in his favourite class:

“We could put on our best suits and go out?” he suggested. 

Elia gave him a pat on the shoulder and Gio smiled turning back around. He saw Elia nudge Marti on the shoulder this time:

“What do you think?”

Marti didn’t turn around because they were in class and Marti tried so hard not to speak in class. Gio and Elia would have the time of their lives trying to get him invested in conversations especially if it was a lesson they hated. They started off by talking about Nicco and at first Marti fell for that. Then, he got smarter. Their next tactic was to talk about their FIFA points in which they always said Marti’s point wrong. He fell for that, hard. Marti would never let them underestimate his success in FIFA. 

So, considering their tactics this wasn’t a conversation Marti would be invested in class. Still he answered whispering:

“Actually, girls told me about a party.”

“What party?” Elia asked a little bit louder (probably offended that he didn’t hear that) and Gio could sense the boy sitting next to him giving them annoyed looks. They were back on their brand to be gazed at for their noises. 

Marti whispered again, still looking in front of him:

“Edoardo’s back for the weekend. Something he is throwing. Not a party but the inner circle.”

Gio turned back to see Elia’s reaction and he saw that the other boy hit himself on the head:

“Right, Fede texted me about that.”

Then he hit himself on the head again:

“Sorry, Gio.” he mumbled. 

Okay, Fede was the person his ex-girlfriend cheated on him with but that was more than a year ago. Gio moved past that, they were even acquaintances. He didn’t understand why people thought he would get angry at that.

“It’s fine. After fighting together we developed a bond, remember?”

“Yeah.” Elia answered even louder this time probably remembering last year and getting a little pumped up. He patted Gio on the back. This finally attracted the attention of their teacher:

“If you could keep your enthusiasm down, Santini.”

Gio and Marti were barely keeping it together now. Both of the boys looked down trying not to seen laughing. Gio was hitting himself on the leg trying to keep quiet. Marti looked back this time, directly looking at Elia who was sulked back in his chair. Martino being the one refusing to speak loved it when the boys got called out. 

The teacher continued:

“As I said, I’m gonna give your quizzes back now. They were generally good but a few people surprised me.”

Teacher’s focus turned on Gio and he couldn’t help but look around to understand fully if the teacher was speaking to him. He thought he did good on the quiz. He always did good without even studying.

So, the teacher started handing out the papers one by one. As he got closer Gio started to get worried. _It has been so long since he got a low grade that he didn’t even know what to do if he got one now._ He was hearing the boys talk about Friday but he wasn’t able to pay attention.

Finally, the teacher stood beside them:

“Marti, good as usual.” he said handing Marti’s paper. The boy smiled feeling proud of himself. 

Then, surprisingly he skipped Gio and took a step forward which increased Giovanni’s worry. He took Elia’s paper out:

“I wish you were as enthusiastic about history, Elia.” he said. Elia, shrugged and took the paper.

The teacher then took a step back:

“Everybody has their bad days Garau.” he said handing Gio his paper. 

The two boys were as surprised at the comment as Gio was. They abandoned their own papers and were watching Gio to get his reaction. 

Gio slowly turned the paper around to see that he got 2 out of 10. It was his lowest in all of his academic career. Sure, Gio wasn’t known as the smartest person in school but he did good and he took pride in that. If he got this in another class he could maybe look over but in history, it meant that he was going to get obsessed.

Marti bumped him on the arm:

“Is it bad?”

Gio immediately turned the paper around trying to hide his note:

“Kinda.”

Marti smiled a little and bumped him again:

“We have tons of quizzes. You can increase it.”

Gio smiled back. 

Elia bumped him on the shoulder this time with another pen:

“You are like the 'wizard of history’. You’ll do better.”

His remark about the ‘wizard’ reminded boys of too many things which send them into a fit of laughter. Some of the class including the teacher and Eva turned to look at them but they kept laughing. Once they started there was no going back.

Gio, seeing Eva look back at him thought about how have the tables turned; how _now he was the one to hide his grades not wanting anyone to know._

* * *

 

**_Mercoledi 17:50-Homework_ **

Gio was sat on his bed with his guitar on his lap. A Youtube video was open on his phone and he was trying to learn some new riffs for a song. He played the video again and paused to repeat what he just watched. Just when he was in the middle of playing his brother barged in. 

Gio stopped playing covering the strings with his hand:

“Hey! Knock.”

Marco didn’t reply instead jumped on the bed next to Gio. He held over the paper in his hands over to Gio and said:

“Read.”

Gio slapped him in the back of the head, one of his signature big brother moves:

“Hey! Manners.”

Marco didn’t reply again, he just got more comfortable on the bed that was situated at the corner of the room. He leaned his back against the wall.

Gio picked the paper up and scanned it quickly:

“What’s this?”

Marco answered trying to reach to the guitar:

“My homework about refugees.”

Gio saw Marco’s hand and gripped the guitar himself then put it on the ground:

“No manners, no guitar.”

Well, the guitar was off limits to Marco anyway but Gio saw the opportunity to make Marco knock next time and took it. The list of things that were off to Marco in Gio’s room were narrow actually. He couldn’t take the guitar, couldn't look at the computer, couldn’t go through his drawer that was used to be filled with weed and that was about it. So, Gio was open to sharing as a sibling but he wanted to keep the guitar out of harm and he wanted some privacy. 

Marco sighed and pushed himself up to lean more straightly against the wall. He took out his phone and started to play with it while Gio read the homework. 

It was about refugees so Gio had already embraced himself for a read full of bigotry. He still held on hope though that it could turn out fine. It didn’t.

In the first paragraph Marco had talked about how refugees were like them, how they were just looking for better life conditions. That kept Gio’s hope growing. He thought maybe the kid did his own research instead of writing what their father basically recited. 

As he continued he read things like how they should’ve rather stayed at their country to defend it, how they wee increasing the crime rates of the countries they go to, how Italy’s, Europe’s culture was about to change because of them and so on.

He was normally for the “reading the opposite side to form arguments” view but at some point he just got tired and stopped reading. He put the paper down on the bed; sighed and closed his eyes. 

Marco was too engrossed in his phone to notice Gio’s complete disappointment. Only when Gio cleared his throat and hit him on the arm that the little boy looked up. 

He saw the paper on the bed, figuring Gio had read it:

“So, what do you think?”

Gio took a deep breath, he started with the positive side to not get his brother go on defense:

“The writing is good. The sentences, the word choice. I like it.”

Marco suddenly stopped leaning on the wall and turned to face Gio in a swift move:

“I looked at some of your old homework. I tried to write like that.” He said with big smile and wide eyes.

If it was anyone else Gio would have called him out the moment he read the paper but with Marco he just couldn’t. He was afraid to have Marco turn away from him. He also couldn’t call out his father. Maybe that’s why he was so eager to call the others out; strangers, classmates or his friends. There was nothing to lose with strangers and he knew his friends wouldn’t turn away from him. He took a deep breath:

“About what you wrote…” A pause and another breath. “I think it’s unfair to judge them. We haven’t been through a war like that, we never even saw a violence like that. We don’t know what it’s like barely escaping to save your life.”

Marco didn’t answer for a few seconds and it looked like he was almost considering what his older brother said:

“I don’t think so. I wouldn’t leave.” 

Before Gio who was lying on the bed now he switched to a sitting position:

“But you haven’t lived that.” 

“I don’t have to. I just know. Dad said the same thing at dinner last week and you didn’t say anything to him.”

Gio clenched his chin. _He already knew how he was hesitating to go against his father openly he didn’t need his little brother pointing it out._ He got ready for a deeper talk with moving his hands in front of him:

“I’m saying it to you now. Just-

Marco, in a quick movement snatched the paper out of Gio’s hand:

 _“Do you really think this or do you just like disagreeing with dad?”_

And with that he stormed out of the room leaving Gio with much to think about. He threw himself back to the bed.

Of, course he thought that. He knew he wasn’t in a place to judge people fleeing their countries for whatever reason.

Anyway, disagreeing with his dad was just a side benefit of his liberalism. 

Sadly he wasn’t like his dad who imposed his thoughts on Marco, who tried to impose his thoughts on Giovanni. But Gio himself discovered internet when he was Marco’s age and he devoured lots of books. After a while, he realized how wrong his father’s mindset was. 

Sure, aside from his father’s racism and bigotry he had sides Gio didn’t like too. But he wasn’t in a opposing mindset to disagree with him; if he did he would have courage to speak up. 

 

* * *

 

**_Giovedi 17:05-Some Things Never Change_ **

Gio was at the empty, abandoned pool skating with the boys. He preferred going to the skateboard park but the others loved this place better. Probably because they were able to mess around more and do weird stuff. 

After trying all summer Marti was finally able to convince Nicco to learn skateboarding. So, now Nicco was on Marti’s old skateboard and Marti was holding his hands and they were moving really slowly. Who would’ve thought Niccolo Fares was afraid of skateboarding? 

Luca, Elia and Gio was watching them and making fun of them at the same time. Marti flipped them off but because he had to drop Nicco’s hand the boy on the skateboard got nervous and grabbed Marti’s hand in the middle of the flipping off. This whole scene send the other three boys into a bigger laughter. 

Gio took his phone out and started to record the boyfriends. He was following them doing close ups while asking Nicco for directing tips. Nicco got distracted with Gio’s questions and Gio's phone in front of his face so he seemed less nervous. 

Then, Gio left the couple to themselves and walked over to Elia and Luchino with his skateboard under his arm. 

Elia was doing a crazy new trick on the skateboard and poor Luchino was trying to do the same only to fall back on his butt at every try. Elia seemed to enjoy it a lot and Gio started to laugh at the sight too.

He now pointed the camera of his phone to his two friends and recorded Elia’s mastery and Luca’s fails. 

After some time, Elia looked at Gio and they shared a look that basically meant ‘enough torturing Luchino’. 

So, Elia suggested going up inside the swimming pool, sitting on their skateboards and sliding down. Gio refused saying he didn’t want to ruin his favorite pants this time. 

While Elia and Luca racing up with their skates in their hands Gio walked up the stairs and sat on the seats. 

About after five minutes spent watching his friends alone, Marti spotted him. Gio saw Marti say something to Nicco then give him a little kiss. 

A minute later he was up sitting next to Gio. He had left the skateboard with Nicco and Nicco had joined the other two in sliding down. 

Marti and Gio sat in silence for a few minutes watching the boys until Gio asked:

“Can I crush at your place tomorrow?”

He avoided going home after a party as much as possible. 

“Sure.” Marti said with a smile without questioning anything. Gio had practically spent the half of summer sleeping at Marti and Nicco’s. 

After another sliding down session was finished Nicco looked up at them and waved with a big smile. First, Marti waved back then, Gio joined.

When Nicco went back to talking to the other boys Gio couldn’t help but starting to laugh. Marti turned to him and bumped him on the arm:

“What did I miss?”

Gio explained still laughing:

“Nothing. It’s just funny how things have changed. I used to drag Eva here and she would wave at me from where we are standing. Now, you are dragging Nicco here and you are waving at each other while I third wheel.”

Marti started to laugh too shaking his head:

“ _Some things never change I guess_. But you are not a third wheel.”

Gio turned aside with raised eyebrows. 

“Okay, maybe you are. But I was too.” Marti said this time with a smirk. 

Gio pushed him to the side with a big smile that even crunched his nose. 

Then, they went back to watching the other boys. A few minutes later Marco entered the pool with his skateboard. He looked around and saw Gio but didn’t wave or anything just walked up to Elia and they had a little hand shake. 

Marti possibly sensing the tense atmosphere said in a quiet voice:

“He texted me. Shouldn’t I have told him where we were?”

Gio smiled faintly and looked down:

“No, it’s fine. Better to have an eye on him.” A beat. “We had argument that’s all.”

“What about?”

“Don’t worry, nothing big.” 

He looked at Marti with the same faint smile. Gio knew Marti didn’t believe the ’nothing big part’. Truthfully, it wasn’t a big fight but the after effects on Gio were somewhat big. He was dwelling on what Marco said and how he could lessen the effect of their father on the little boy.

They continued to watch the others skating and making a mess of themselves, their clothes. Gio's focus was on Marco with a scowl and worry on his face. The only thing the boys knew to its full extent about Gio's family was Marco’s asthma. 

So a few minutes later when Elia looked up at him and nodded it meant ‘I got him don’t worry.’ 

Gio only nodded back and smiled a little meaning ‘Thanks.’

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 21:18-My Own Family_ **

Everybody was over at Edo’s house : the girls, the boys and Edo’s crew. There was some pop music playing and lots of booze. 

Gio was standing with Elia, Fede and Chicco drinking and chatting. 

As he looked around he saw the girls laughing and singing along to the song playing. He guessed they were the ones in charge of the music. 

Marti and Nicco were in some corner dancing and kissing. He was so thankful to Edo for throwing this party because it gave the couple a place where they can have fun freely without being on alert the whole time.

He saw Edoardo and Eleonora sitting on the couch and chatting probably making up for the times they don’t see each other.  

Elia was filling in the other boys on the school gossip they missed. He talked about this boy in their grade that gave STD’s to a bunch of girls and the others made a ‘hurt face’ gritting their teeth. 

That was when Luchino came and basically crashed into Gio and Elia. Thankfully they were both holding bottles of beers instead of cups so nothing spilled down. 

“You need to help me.” He whispered.

Elia and Gio they were used to him but Fede and Chicco were fairly confused. Gio saw them look at one another then back to Luca. Meanwhile, Elia grabbed Luca and pulled him inside the circle.

“What’s going on?” Elia asked. 

“Silvia.”

Gio took a sip of his beer and rolled his eyes then shared a look with Elia. 

“What about her?” Gio asked.

“I want to ask her to dance.”

“Then go and ask.” Chicco said putting in a great advice. 

“Yeah, she is just standing there.” Fede said pointing to the girls.

“I can’t do it on my own.” Luca said fidgeting and sweating more and more every second.

“You did it last year.” Elia said putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from moving around.

“Exactly!” Luca almost yelled then quieted down. “It’s been months and there is no development.”

Luca was looking at them with pleading eyes so Elia and Gio shared another look. Gio nodded at Elia while they kept their gaze. 

“Fine, come on.” Gio said grabbing Luca’s arm and dragging him behind. 

He first took Luca to a corner and gave him few sips of his beer. Then told him to fix his t-shirt and to try to look as cool as possible. 

They slowly walked over to the girls. Gio noticed that in the meantime that Eva had left. Now Silvia, Sana and Federica were standing together.

Gio feeling like he needed to start said:

“Hi, girls!”

They all looked at the boys from top to bottom as if to measure their intentions.

Gio continued trying to display all of his charm:

“We’ve been listening to the radio, right Luca?” he said pointing in between them. "It’s great we love it.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s the best thing ever!” Luca said with a big smile and Gio smiled watching his friend and his eagerness.

“Thanks.” Silvia answered and Gio caught her little smile. Maybe she liked Luca too. 

Then, Gio nudged Luca on the arm with his elbow to get him to ask the question before it’s too late.

Luca cleared his throat:

“Do you want to dance?” he said so quickly that the sentence merged into one big word. 

Sana and Federica were on either side of Silvia looking at her with smiles they were trying to hold. Gio was the same watching Luca. 

“Okay.” Silvia said finally shrugging his shoulders. 

Luca extended his arm and Silvia linked her arm with his as they went to the middle of the room. 

Gio laughed at the sight. Elia was looking back at them and Gio gave him a thumbs up. Then, his eye caught on Fede and Eva talking and laughing. He sighed and took a big sip out of his beer.

He may be kinda friends with Fede and may be good friends with Eva but he wasn’t still used to the sight of them. After his breakup with Sophia he had been thinking of Eva a lot too; more than he wanted to. 

Federica and Sana were watching him but he didn’t notice. He realized that when Federica said:

“They’re just friends.”

Sana added:

“They stopped hooking up months ago.”

Gio turned to the girls and smiled at them. Then, raised his bottle at them as if to mean 'thanks'

He walked over to the table of booze and grabbed a new beer for himself. He waved at Nicco and Marti and gave a handshake to Elia as he made his way outside. 

He sat down on a chair slowly drinking and looking around. The music was pretty audible even there, he just hoped police wouldn’t show up again. 

He was looking up at the stars when he heard somebody plop to the chair next to him. He raised his head and saw that it was Edoardo. 

Giovanni extended his beer bottle waiting for Edo to clink his own bottle. So, he did. Then, both of them proceeded to drink. 

Gio put his bottle down:

“Thanks for the invite dude.”

Edo smiled leaning back on his chair:

“Anytime.”

“How’s university life going, how is Milano?”

“Good. I’m missing Rome a lot though.”

Gio took another sip and with a smirk he said:

“Or are you missing someone?”

Edo turned to him and laughed:

“Not only her. I miss the boys too.”

This made Gio think about how _the end of high school was approaching and how he was going to have to miss his boys._ Safe to say it made him a little sad and melancholic. So, he took one more big sip:

“Family too?”

Edo looked down playing with the label on his bottle:

“Not really.”

That’s when it dawned on Gio. He didn’t know the whole story, obviously. The girls tried so hard for it to not spread to the whole school but he had heard bits and pieces which basically summed up to : Edo’s brother being an asshole and doing something to Eleonora.

Regretting his question Gio said:

“Sorry. I talked without thinking.”

“It’s fine. You don’t know much after all.”

After that they sat in silence for a few seconds before Gio’s worry kicked in so he wanted to get Edo to talk more:

“Must have been tough. I have a little brother and…” A pause. “I can’t imagine.”

Edo looked at him:

“Yeah.” A few seconds later he added, “I learned one thing though : No matter how hard it is sometimes it’s best to cut your family out. And you shouldn’t give them a pass for the awful things they do.”

Gio only nodded in return partly not knowing what to say and partly thinking maybe Edo just needed to say this out loud.

He also couldn’t help but think about his own family. Certainly, what Edo’s brother did couldn’t be compared to his own family but he still couldn’t help but make the connection. He has been giving his father a pass for years by not talking against him, he has been giving his brother a pass by not pushing him to the other direction enough. 

While Gio was deep in thought Edo looked inside with a small but deep smile as lights reflected on his eyes and said:

“I’ve got my own family now.” 

Gio could see him watch Ele that was standing just at the door with Eva. Then, he saw Edo’s gaze fall on Fede and Chicco. 

Meanwhile, Gio watched his friends too. He saw Elia joking around with the boys with, Marti and Nicco being drunk in love, Luchino showing off his dancing skills, Eva singing with the girls… He felt like he understood what Edo meant.

Gio put on his biggest smile, grabbed Edo on the shoulder and squeezed it:

“You have the contrabbanderi now too!”

Suddenly, Edo’s mood changed and he started to laugh. 

The two curly haired boys laughed for a good minute before Ele came and snatched Edo away leaving Gio with his own thoughts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it and thanks for reading!!! I especially liked writing the Edo and Gio scene, I promise there is more of them!! <3 
> 
> Like I said I'd love any comment (things you liked and didn't like)!
> 
> (I don't want to give too much away but aside from the boy squad there are some interactions with Edo and Ele and a bit with Filippo. Is there any other characters you'd want Gio to connect with? I guess I'm covering everyone but)


	3. Episode 3 : Talking Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!!!! Here is the 3rd chapter!
> 
> Spoiler! : Angst is developing people. This is only the start. What's a Skam season without angst and drama, right?

**_Domenica 14:04-Plans_ **

Gio was over at Nicco and Marti’s which had become his second home ever since they moved in at the beginning of summer. The whole moving in process was an opportunity for the boys the mess around. They painted the walls together (that explained why the walls weren’t smooth), they carried the furniture together (by some chance without breaking anything) and at some point they all passed out on the couches. 

Today, Marti and Gio were just finishing up a game of FIFA that Marti won, as usual. Gio had Liverpool and Marti had Tottenham to honor last years Champion's League. To the amuse of Marti while Liverpool had won in real life Tottenham managed to win in the game life.

Gio dropped the controller on the couch:

“Do you go to a secret FIFA camp we don’t know about?”

Marti laughed:

“Maybe.” he said shrugging off his shoulders.

Gio pushed him from the side which made Marti tilt to the left side. 

While they were laughing Nicco entered the living room carrying a tray that had three cups of espresso. He put the tray down at the little circle table in the middle. Gio got up, grabbed a cup and moved to the smaller couch on the right side of the bigger one. So, Nicco grabbed the other two cups, gave one to Marti and sat next to him. He threw his empty arm over Marti’s shoulder.

Gio took one sip of his coffee, closed his eyes and dropped his head on the back of the couch:

“Mmmmh. Perfect.”

Nicco laughed:

“Thanks.”

“You know you are so much better than Marti at making coffee.” After finishing his sentence, Gio slowly opened his eyes to get Martino’s reaction.

Marti threw his hands up in protest:

“Hey! You never complained before.”

Gio smirked:

“We didn’t know Nicco before.”

Marti threw his hands up again:

“You have known him for like a year.”

Gio's smirk grew on his face and turned into a big smile:

“Now, felt like a good time to complain.”

He looked at Nicco and they started to laugh while Marti groaned playfully. Gio and Nicco had quickly learned to gang up on Marti to make fun of him. Their chaotic energies were truly matching proved by their now-failed plan to get Silvia and Elia together. 

The trio sat like that for a couple of minutes. One by one they put their cups back on the tray as they finished it. 

Nicco was the one to speak again after giving Marti a kiss on the head:

“My school is having a tour for new students next week if you are interested.”

Marti looked at Gio:

“Yeah, that would be cool right?”

Gio smiled, it was a forced smile on his side but he had practiced enough to make others believe.

“Sure. Why not?”

Then he turned to Marti and with the same smile he asked:

“So what’s your plan, for the future?”

In their like a lifetime of friendship they had talked about their future jobs a million times. When they were eleven, it was a football player for Marti and a singer for Gio. Obviously things have changed and in the past year they had talked about so many realistic options but Marti never seemed to land on one so Gio truly didn’t know the answer.

Marti looked at Nicco and held his hand:

“I would love to go to Nicco’s university.” He paused for a few seconds and then added, “I guess I want to study mathematics.”

Gio and Nicco groaned at the same time. As retaliation Marti pushed Nicco’s hand away but Nicco grabbed it again:

“Just kidding, I hate math but I love you so it all evens out.”

Gio shrugged:

“Well I hate math more than I love you so sorry.”

Marti gave him a dirty look which send all of them laughing.

“What about you?” Nicco asked turning to Gio.

Gio looked down and then up to the couples’ faces and said:

“Law.”

Nicco shook his head approvingly:

“That’s cool.” 

Even though Nicco and Gio both considered each other as one of their best friends; Nicco didn’t knew Gio long enough to be surprised by this answer. Marti did.

“Really?” he said looking at Gio with a scowl.

“Yeah, I mean…” He pointed at Nicco with his hands, “…law is cool.”

Real smooth there, Gio thought to himself.

“Is that why you had a fight with Marco?”

Marti wasn’t letting this go. He had been badgering for days. Now, Gio saying he wanted to study law only gave him another opportunity to question him about both Marco and Gio's future plans. 

“No.” 

“Then what was the reason?”

Nicco was watching them talk like he was watching a tennis game. He was quietly looking at whoever was speaking. 

“It’s nothing.”

Gio heard Marti take a deep breath. Then Marti said:

“Was it about your father?”

Gio who was looking around snapped his head at Marti with that question. He didn’t answer but Marti looked at him waiting or better put demanding one. He loved/hated it when Marti became a version of Giovanni Garau. 

Nicco probably feeling like he needed to dissolve the tension said:

“Gio will talk about if he wants to, right?” 

Gio sighed and looked at Marti. Then he looked at Nicco and thanked him with a little smile. Nicco, smiled back.

Marti who was leaning forward for his questioning leaned back and put his head on Nicco’s shoulder. He said in a quiet voice:

“You know all about my family, every little problem. I know almost nothing of yours.” 

Marti didn’t know anything because that was what Gio chose. 

Gio didn’t answer and didn’t even look up. He wasn’t going to let his family ruin another relationship he had so he stayed silent to not let things escalate. _That was something Gio did with the boys : he never let things escalate_. Even last year when Marti was throwing Eva and Fede to his face he said nothing. Sure, he would question them to get the truth and he would tell them off but he never let things get bigger.

Also, it was Marti at the end of the day. They didn’t fight over little things, little remarks or little passive aggressivenesses. Their biggest falling out in their thirteen years of friendship happened last year. That means a lot. 

Gio knew, even if he wasn’t looking up, that Marti wasn’t looking at him as well. The two best friends kept avoiding each other’s gazes and eye contact as best as they could.

* * *

 

**_Martedi 17:15-No Objections_ **

Gio entered a cafe, one they were regular customers of, with Elia. They went there because the coffee was good, the tiramisu was okay and it was close to the school. 

They walked to the counter to give their orders. Without much thinking Elia ordered a macchiato while Gio opted for an espresso. Then, they walked over to the register to pay.

Gio took out his wallet and fumbled for money. He had some money but he was going to buy a book for a project and he was going to use the remaining to get home.

Elia seeing the struggle pushed down Gio's wallet:

“On me.”

Gio opened his mouth to protest but he was cut in by Elia:

“I probably owe you coffee anyway.”

Gio had no chance but to put his wallet back into his backpack. He smiled faintly at Elia and said:

“Thanks.”

Elia smiled back a wider smile as they walked away from the register to wait for their coffees.

Gio was so glad that Elia didn’t ask anything or offer to give him money. That was Elia, he knew Gio wouldn’t talk anyway so he just tried to do something helpful. Like when he didn’t question why him and Marco wasn’t talking but instead just took care of the little boy. Back when, the news of Eva cheating on him broke out Elia didn’t ask Gio anything; he just took him out and got him drunk. Being like the parents of the group made Elia and Gio understand each other without much talking.

Once their orders were ready they took their cups and found a table for themselves. It was a small table right next to the window with only two chairs. They sat down and put their bags down. 

Elia said pointing at his coffee:

“This felt so good. I think I’m still hungover.”

Gio shook his head and laugh:

“Was there a party yesterday that I didn’t know?”

Elia drunk some more of his coffee:

“From Sunday.”

Gio laughed again grabbing his own cup:

“Yeah, that seems right.” After taking one big sip he smirked, “Hooked up with anyone?”

Elia's big smile faded into a smaller one. Gio saw that but he tried not to dwell on it.

“Nope.” Elia answered chucking down his coffee immediately afterwards. 

Gio reached and patted him on the arm:

“You’ll get luckier at the next one.”

Elia instead of replying to Gio’s remark with something funny said his own thoughts cheerier than he ever was:

“Anyway, we missed you there. A party isn’t a party without Giovanni Garauuuuuuu.”

When Elia extended the “u” as much as he could Gio only laughed.

Nevertheless, this sudden change of topic and mood made Gio suspicious but he let it go for today. He promised himself to keep an eye on Elia though. Because there was no way Elia would miss out on an opportunity to be cocky.

After leaving Marti and Nicco’s on Sunday, Gio had went straight home and locked himself in his room to study. 

He replied with a pout:

“Sadly, the wizard had to study.”

Elia put his cup of coffee on the table and said with a firm tone:

“Gio, you had one bad quiz. You are still a good student. You can stills study law, don’t worry.”

Gio sighed and looked up at Elia over his coffee cup that he was about to drink from:

“Marti?”

Elia let out a breath:

“Nicco.”

It was Gio’s time to chuck down his coffee while Elia said:

“Nicco was happy for you but he was curious why Marti was so negatively surprised at it.”

Gio didn’t answer so Elia continued, “Look, I’m surprised too but not as much. You could have said something worse like art because you are shit at drawing.” 

He finished of with a smirk and _Gio couldn’t help but laugh feeling less tense than when he had this conversation with Marti_. He felt like Elia got him on another level that Marti didn’t. It didn’t mean he loved either of them more but it was just a matter of relationships. Marti, knowing Gio didn't really wanted to study law would push him to the thing he wanted because Marti wanted Gio to be happy. While Elia, knowing Gio didn't want to study law would support him because he knew if he was doing that there was a reason.

“I have no objections.” Gio replied. 

His little law reference now caused a laugh in Elia. That was until his phone that was on the table rang. Gio unintentionally looked down but before he could see who it was Elia closed it and turned it around in the speed of light.

It was like the third weird thing coming from Elia today. 

Gio acted like he didn’t realize Elia’s panic because again that was what he needed for now. _But, Gio also definitely decided to watch Elia’s movements and moods for some time to figure out what was going on._

 

* * *

 

**_Mercoledi 17:40-Growing Up_ **

Gio was at the same cafe that he was with Elia yesterday only he was alone. He was sitting at a bigger, rectangular table this time with three books and a notebook opened on it. 

By nature he was able to study pretty much anywhere. He could even tune out the noises of the boys and study while they were messing around. That means he could have studied at home but he’d rather not. So, he came over to his favorite cafe grabbing some of the money he had saved up in his room. His savings weren’t much but they helped him in not asking his father constantly for money. 

After Elia praised it so much yesterday he had bought a macchiato for himself and the cheapest sandwich they had. The sandwich was half eaten and the coffee was almost finished.

As he kept copying some notes from the textbook to his notebook he felt someone standing over him. He looked up to meet with long ginger hair and brown eyes: Eva. 

She was holding on to his backpack as she smiled and said:

“Hi!”

Gio put his pencil down. He could feel his hand sweating so he rubbed them on his pants. Then, he smiled:

“Hi!”

She pointed down the table with his eyes:

“Studying hard?”

He looked around at the table and now saw the mess he had created. He ran a hand through his hair:

“It’s never too early.”

She was still smiling brightly:

“For you maybe. I’ll try to stay away from studying as long as I can.”

He laughed and realized that his nervousness was decreasing with every minute passing. His hands weren’t as sweaty as the start of the conversation. 

That calming down only lasted for about a minute before he decided to ask:

“Do you want to sit down?”

His heart was racing up and almost pumping out of his chest. He thought to himself ’so much for the love wizard, Gio’.

Just as she was about to answer the barista called out her name to let her know her order was ready. Both of them looked back. 

“Let me get that first.” Eva said turning around. 

In the one minute she was gone Gio closed some of the books and cleared the table a little. When she came back she smiled at the sight and sat across Gio. 

“What’d you get?” asked Gio, once again calming down.

“Lungo.” she said with a smirk.

“You used to hate that.”

She laughed and shrugged:

“Well, I’ve grown and as you would say…” she pointed at Gio with her coffee cup so Gio finished the sentence:

“Developed taste.” 

They both laughed for a few seconds looking at each other. Gio held his own cup and took the finishing sip, then said:

“I’ve grown too. I no longer judge people’s taste in coffee.” He closed his eyes and acted like he was struggling, “Even if they love latte.”

Eva shook her head and smiled wide. Gio saw that she was now holding the cup with both hands. He used to love it when she did that. 

She put her cup down and looked at Gio in the eye:

“Glad to know you’ve grown but you are still the same.”

Gio didn’t want to read into things but it felt like Eva wasn’t talking about the little joke they were making. It didn’t help that she was staring right into his eyes with a small but sweet smile. He kept staring at her unable to find something funny or equally deep to say. 

Finally he said:

“You as well.” 

He grabbed his now-finished cup and extended it over the table. She extended her own cup and they clinked it. Then, she proceeded to drink while Gio put his own cup back on the table.

“Yours was finished?” she asked. 

He shrugged:

“Everything for a cheers.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed which in return made Gio laugh. 

It made Gio so happy and so at ease that they were back to their old selves; just laughing and joking without any bad feelings hanging over them. 

He knew no matter what she was happy that they’ve broken up. As for him, a side was still sad while another side was thankful that she did that because it took him their break up to see how bad of a boyfriend he was being. He would’ve never found the courage to end it so if she didn’t want to break up then maybe they would have hurt each other more going on an irreversible path. 

At least now, considering the amount of time passed too, they were able to be friends and just talk. 

Her voice took him out of his thoughts. She was playing with her hair and looking around almost as if she was trying not to meet his eyes:

“By the way, I’m sorry about Sophia.”

Unlike Eva, Gio looked right at her with a sudden fit of confidence:

“Thanks but it’s okay. It was for the best and we are staying friends.”

He smiled finishing off. She finally looked at him and caught that smile. Then, she looked down with a paralleling smile. 

He was fine with being friends with Eva; more than fine even. He was just glad to have her in his life. _But now that he was single again, a not-so-deep part of his heart was hoping that they could be something more._

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 20:48-Are You Sure Gio?_ **

Gio was over at Marti and Nicco’s with Elia and Luca and even Filippo was there. He was guessing either Marti or Nicco had invited him and it was their home after all. Also, he liked the dude he was fun, like a fun uncle. 

They were sitting around on a big table in the living room. On it, there were tons of empty and full beer bottles, some chips and some leftover pizza, two cigarette packets one in front of Elia and one in front of Filippo. 

He was sitting next to Elia on the longer side. Across them were Nicco and Marti; they were basically cuddling as much as they could do on chairs. On the right side of Gio was Luca and on the left side of Elia was Filippo.

Filippo was recounting the night he met Marti and Marti was trying desperately to shut him up while the other four boys were laughing too hard. Filippo called himself “the gay guru” at some point and Luca cheered sending the others into even a bigger laughter.

Gio wasn’t really joining them. His mind was all over the place. A part of his mind was making a study plan deciding what he was going to study over the weekend. Another part of his mind was stressing over his grades. Another part was thinking of ways and aspects that could interest him in law. Another part was thinking about Eva and considering whether he could make a move. Another part was thinking about how Marco was still not talking to him. Another part was thinking about Elia and what was going on with him. Another part was thinking of ways to get Luca and Silvia together. Another part was-

“GIO!” he heard all the boys yell in the midst of his stream of consciousness.

He looked up to find five pair of eyes staring at him. He tried to brush it off like they didn’t just had to yell his name:

“Yeah?”

When the contrabbandieri didn’t answer Filippo jumped in. He said pointing at Luca:

“Luca here was talking about his upcoming date with Silvia.”

Gio turned to Luca and forced a big smile:

“You got a date? Congrats Luchino.”

He reached to ruffle Luca’s head while the boy said with sulked shoulders:

“Yes, I’ve been talking about that for the past thirty minutes.”

‘Great, I managed to piss off yet another person’, Gio thought.

He took a big sip out of his beer:

“Sorry. I was thinking about something else.” 

Gio was feeling Marti’s burning gaze on him; like the one Gio used to give him last year. He ignored that and turned to Luca with his whole body:

“You’ve got my whole attention now.”

Luca seemed to forgot his disappointment from a minute ago. He turned to Gio in a similar way and started to explain jumping up and down on his chair:

“So, this Sunday we are going on a lunch date.”

The others, who listened to that part of the story shook their heads. Luca continued:

“I’m going to take her to that sushi place you told me about.” he said looking at Gio. 

Everybody shook their heads approvingly while Gio reached and squeezed Luca’s shoulder with a smile:

“She’ll love that place dude. Great choice!”

This only got Luca more pumped up. 

Fillipo said with a smirk:

“Yeah the sushi there is delicious and it’s indeed a very cool place.”

Gio was looking at the older boy just as he finished his sentence and he could’ve swear he said that looking at Elia and there might have even been a little wink. 

Gio, thought ‘maybe I drank too much’. So he put the bottle on the table as far away from his reach as possible.

Marti laughed and said:

“I can’t believe you two thought putting Elia and Silvia together.” pointing to Nicco, then to Gio.

Gio laughed shaking his head:

“I seem to recall that was your boyfriend’s idea first.”

Nicco laughed and flipped him off:

“Traitor.” he said. 

Gio and the others laughed in return. 

Filippo then said with the same smirk he had on before:

“I’m glad that plan failed.”

Gio saw Elia next to him shooting a warning look at Filippo. Another point to add to the _"weird things Elia does" list._

Filippo’s remark had earned him some confused looks so he further explained:

“I mean for the good, old Luchino.”

“Yeah!” Luca said suddenly forgetting his confusion.

Then, the boys went back into the conversation with Marti and Nicco talking about their unofficial first date when Marti went over to Nicco’s house and their official first date, the day after their first kiss. Luca was asking tons of questions and literally taking notes on his phone. Everybody was loving his pureness too much to make fun of him.

Meanwhile, _Gio felt like disassociating again._ He lost track of the conversation. 

A few minutes later, he took his phone out and checked the clock. If he got home instead of crashing over at somebody he was definitely going to get scolded by his father for being late. He sighed and put his phone back into his pocket.

The boys were too engrossed in their conversation. Occasionally, Marti was gazing at him and Elia was turning his head to check up on him but other then that they kept the conversation going.

Until the absolute death silence that happened when Gio pulled a bag of weed out of his pocket and a lighter. He had found some in his room while cleaning out his drawer last Monday. He had been carrying it in his pocket for days. It was there when he went to the cafe with Elia or the next day when he saw Eva there. Finally, thinking too much had broken him so he decided to turn to getting high to relax.

The boys abruptly stopped talking the second he put the weed on the table and started rolling. Everybody was watching him but nobody was saying anything. 

Luca was the first one to talk:

“I thought you stopped.” he said in the smallest voice possible.

Gio knew the moment he reached for it in his pocket that he would hear a lot from the boys for it. But they weren’t Giovanni Garau so they couldn’t possibly scold him for it the way he would have done with any of the others. So, nothing he can’t deal with really.

“I found it in my room and decided I’m starting again.” he said looking at the boys.

He saw Luca look at the others on the table as if he was asking for someone else to step in. 

Martino talked this time:

“Are you sure about that Gio?”

Gio didn’t reply instead lit up the rolled branch and put it into his mouth. 

In the corner of his eye, he could see Elia raising his hand then putting it down again. He felt like Elia was fighting the urge to pull it right from Gio's mouth.

Even after he stopped the boys kept on smoking but they had supported him. They obviously never offered him one, they would try to smoke when he wasn’t in the room or try to smoke less around him. 

After realizing Gio was truly back to smoking the boys tried to make conversation again but their gazes on him and the duration of the gazes had increased.

 

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 23:05-Talking Back_ **

 

Gio took a deep breath and got ready for _the wrath he was about to face_ as he put his key in the lock. He slowly opened the door and got inside. He was going to make his way into his room when his father yelled from the living room:

“Giovanni!”

So instead of walking through the corridor he had to go to the living room across the door. He entered dragging his feet along.

His father was up standing in the middle of the room while his mother was sitting on the couch. The second he entered his father said pointing at the watch on his wrist:

“Do you know what time it is?”

Gio didn’t answer; he was back to biting his cheek. He had been perfectly avoiding entering the house later then 21:30. If he was entering that late he would say he was over at somebody’s house and had dinner there. Most of the time the lie had something about studying in it. Whenever, it looked like was going to pass that curfew he would sleep over at one of his friends. Today, considering the weird atmosphere after he smoked he decided to go home instead. He was living to regret that decision now. 

“Where were you?” his father asked in the loudest voice that was not yet a shout. 

“At a friend’s house.”

His mother spoke up this time:

“You should’ve let us know, Gio.” she said with folded arms.

“Sorry.” he mumbled looking down.

His hopes weren’t met. His father got closer to him:

“Sorry? You are here smelling of a combination of millions things and you are saying sorry?”

Gio looked down trying so hard not to answer back this time. 

“Were you drinking?” his mother asked in a less loud voice but with the same angry tone.

Gio didn’t answer. His father increased his voice:

“Who was that friend?”

“Marti.” Gio said in a mumble. The reason he was answering some questions and not answering others was that he knew by now which of them were requiring answers.

His father scoffed and turned around:

“Of course.”

Well, it was one thing for him to yell at Gio and another thing to diss his friends. 

“What does that mean?”

That remark obviously did not require an answer so his father got angrier:

“That boy, those boys only get you into trouble.”

Gio looked up the first time ever since he entered the room:

“No, they don’t. If anything they keep me out of trouble.”

That was the tipping off. His father started to yell:

“IS THAT WHY YOU ARE REEKING OF WEED? YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT SMELL IS?”

Gio thought ‘if you only knew they were as against of me smoking as you are.’

He was back to not answering and his father kept on yelling:

“NO ANSWER NOW. GREAT!”

His mother had stopped interjecting. She was letting her husband do the scolding, like always. 

His father continued to yell:

“JUST WHEN I THINK YOU’VE GROWN UP...” he shook his head from side to side instead of finishing up the sentence. 

_Growing up. Him and Eva joking about growing but not joking really. The objective fact that he had grown up._

He talked back one last time ( _so much for biting his cheek, huh_ ):

“Well, I’ve grown up.” He looked in between his father and mother and couldn’t help but raise his voice a little, “For example, now I know that you are a ‘fascist'.” 

The second the last word was out of his mouth he saw his father raise his hand. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. 

He got ready for a hand across his cheek but all the action stopped with Marco shouting:

“DAD!”

He was standing in the threshold and looking at the scene in front of him with wide eyes. 

His father immediately lowered his hand, Gio turned to face Marco and his mother got up. 

Then, something worse happened.

Marco started to breath in and out quickly. Their mother rushed to his side while their father gave Gio an angry look as he walked up to the little boy. His breathing was quickening saying he can’t breath. 

Their father started to look around for his medication while their mother stayed with the boy.

Gio was frozen in panic and guilt. Only ten seconds later, what was happening had sunk in so he ran up to Marco's room and grabbed the medication out of his bag. Then, he ran back even faster. This took him all of 30 seconds. 

He handed the medication to the little boy and kneeled in front of him. About two minutes later Marco’s breathing was back to normal and the whole family took a deep breath. Greta, embraced Marco while Fabio gave the boy a pat on the back. 

_Gio had just sunk into the ground unable to face any of the three people in front of him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Any feedback is welcome!
> 
> I realized there are too many boy squad "clips". There's his family too and I'm also trying to include Eva and other characters. But I think it's normal that a Gio season would have more boy squad in it than Marti because I think Gio, the Gio I'm working on has its life revolve around his friends. 
> 
> (PS- you can send me your thought from my tumblr too it's : youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com)


	4. Episode 4 : This Better Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii! So this chapter picks up from a day later then where the chapter 3 was left. Gio is feeling more and more detached.
> 
> Also, it's getting messier...

**_Sabato 13:35-Following Your Steps_ **

 

Gio was lying on his bed with a thick textbook in his hands. He was trying to do some reading to review the topics they studied in class the previous week. It was a mere try because he wasn’t able to focus. His mind kept flashing back to last night and playing back every moment. 

His father yelling at him, Gio finally mustering the courage to talk back, his father’s hand raised, Marco standing at the door, Marco going into an asthma attack…

He sighed and dropped the notebook onto his lap.  He knew he had truly fucked up; he had the dark circles under his eyes to prove it. At night he couldn’t sleep due to the guilt he was drowning in. Just as he felt like he was drowning again he heard the door slowly open. It was Marco. 

Gio gulped and switched into a seating position. 

Marco stood at the door for a few seconds. He was still holding the doorknob when he said:

“Can I come in?”

If it was a normal day Gio would say something like ‘Looks like you’ve got some manners finally.’ Scratch that, if it was a normal day Marco would be barging in. 

Gio instead of answering with words just shook his head up and down. Marco closed the door behind him and sat down slowly next to his brother on the bed.

Gio was playing with the pages of the book in front of him struggling not to look up. He didn’t know what to say to the boy. Nothing he could say could change what happened last night. While Gio was getting lost in his head Marco said:

“I’m sorry Gio. I-I never thought Dad would do that. I’m really sorry.”

Now it was Marco’s turn to look down and Gio’s turn to look up. Gio was confused, he didn’t understand why Marco was apologizing. 

He shook his hands in front of him:

“No, no. Why are you saying sorry for?” He gave out a deep breath. “I’m the one who’s sorry. If I hadn’t come home late, if I hadn’t talk back against him then you wouldn’t have that attack.”

Through the end of the sentence his voice broke. He tried swallowing and clearing his throat to get rid of that. By this time Marco had looked up too. He shook his hands like his brother but in a slower speed:

“Attack had nothing to do with you. They just happen, you know that.”

Gio’s voice was back to breaking and he wasn’t able to do anything to prevent it:

“And sometimes they are triggered by things.”

Marco poked Gio on the arm, both to get him to look up again and to show him he was serious:

“Then it was triggered by dad almost hitting you."

Gio felt like they had switched roles and Marco was acting like a big brother trying to reassure him. Marco’s poking had worked and Gio had looked up to see his little brother smiling faintly at him. He felt like his guilt was finally letting him breath a little so he smiled faintly too. Then, in an instant of emotions he reached forward and wrapped Marco in a big hug. Within a second the little boy was hugging him back. They hugged for a while and when they broke apart Gio ruffled his hair and Marco didn’t escape this time instead he smiled brightly. 

A few minutes later Marco was the first to speak again:

“So you finally said something to dad?” he said like a question.

Gio shrugged, _feeling a little bit proud of himself:_

“I guess so.”

Marco extended his fist and Gio chuckled as he fist bumped with him. They laughed at this interaction for a few seconds. Then,  Marco ran his hands through his hair and Gio felt like the boy was nervous.

“Gio.” Marco said. And after a beat he asked, “Can you tell me more about refugees?”

For Giovanni that sentence meant one thing : after what happened yesterday their father had fallen from the pedestal Marco had put him on. _Gio couldn’t help but feel happy that what destroyed the image of their father in Marco’s eyes was the fact that he raised his hand to Gio_. Guess, his little brother genuinely loved him. 

A smile spread through Gio's face even reaching to his eyes:

“Of course buddy.” Gio replied. Then he started to explain, “People become refugees for multiple reasons. Lately we are hearing about the Syrian refugees and they are escaping a civil war. But people also go to other countries to escape death for other reasons. Some of them are running away from violent families. Some of them are running away because they are attacked for who they love.”

“So, they don’t really want to escape but they have to? That’s what you said right?”

Gio shook his head up and down, guess he was listening even when he was mad:

“Right. Think about it yourself. Would you want to start over in a country where you don’t know the language and culture, where you know you will be treated differently?”

Marco shook his head from side to side. 

“Exactly.” Gio said pointing at him.

The younger boy scratched his head:

“So, they are not trying to change our culture either?”

“No, they are actually contributing to our culture.” Gio smiled. 

Marco smiled back but then he started to play with his t-shirt. Gio felt like he was shying away from asking some of the  questions he had so to encourage him, he said:

“You can ask anything and you shouldn’t take everything I or anybody say about anything as the whole truth. Just open up your computer and read stuff, do your own research.”

Marco had stopped playing with his t-shirt now and he looked more comfortable:

“Is that what you did?”

“Yeah, around your age.”

Marco laughed and lied on the bed keeping himself up with one arm:

“Then, I’m following your steps.”

Gio took a deep breath and laughed. He was comfortable now too. He was able to breathe fully but he still promised to try and avoid to do something that could lead to what happened last night. Most importantly he was just glad that Marco finally started to ask questions, that he was no longer following their father blindly. Also, now that he was thinking back to different details of last night he was so proud of himself that he managed to speak up. 

He reached and ruffled his brother’s hair once again. 

 

* * *

 

 

**_Martedi 16:04-Sidelines_ **

 

The boys were out of the school, chatting in front of the gate. Gio was bouncing from one feet to other impatiently waiting for the conversation to be over so he could throw himself to the books. He thought about what his life had become for a split second. He tuned back into the conversation with Marti’s question:

“Friday after school we are going to Nicco’s school for a tour. It’s okay with everybody, right?”

Luca was the first to answer:

“Yeah!”

Then, Elia:

“Sure.”

Lastly, Gio:

“Yes.”

Gio took out his phone to checked the clock while Elia asked:

“Is Nicco coming too?”

Marti replied with a big smile:

“Yes! There are students giving the tour too but he is going to stick with us.”

“Cool.” Elia said with a smile.

Just then, the girls exited the school together and the boys watched Silvia wave at Luca and Luca waved back. It even caught the attention of the very distracted Gio because suddenly his friends had stopped talking and turned to the same spot. He looked at Luca then to the back to understand what was happening only to smile to himself. 

When the girls were a little out of sight the boys stopped holding back and started their freak out. Marti, Elia and Gio started to clap with the rhythm and chant:

“Luchino! Luchino! Luchino!"

Luca next to them was going red but still he was smiling. He tried to shut them by shushing and putting a finger to his lips. The boys didn’t listen to him and Gio, too, kept contributing to this little cacophony forgetting the things he needed to do for a moment. Elia squeezed Luca’s shoulder who was standing next to him:

“And she was the first to wave! You are doing great!”

Luca laughed:

“Yes, I am!” he shouted as if he wasn’t the one trying to get everyone to be quiet ten seconds ago. 

All of the three boys laughed at this. Marti said face palming:

“You are so humble Luchino.”

Elia bursted out laughing while Luca pushed Marti on the shoulder. As for Gio he was once again back to his own world getting too quickly detached from the fun happening in front of him. 

After their laughters died off Marti suggested mostly looking at Gio:

“Do you want to come over to mine? We’ll play FIFA, hang out a little?”

Luca said:

“That’s the plan.” still feeling the high from happiness.

Elia looked at him and tried to hold himself from laughing:

“Luchino could tell us all about his newfound romantic self.”

Now, it was Elia’s turn to get pushed on the shoulder by Luca.

 _Gio felt like an observer, outsider or a stranger watching a trio of friends from the sidelines_. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to engage he just didn’t have the capacity in his mind to engage nor the energy. He hadn’t been sleeping well despite his conversation with Marco. His new theory was that his insomnia wasn’t related to just the guilt but to million other things in his mind. He had been perfectly avoiding his dad by only being in the same room with him when his mother or brother was there too. If he saw him around the house alone he would walk past. Also, he had been stressing over the exam they had yesterday in history class because he didn’t know whether he did good or bad.

So, yeah his mind was too busy to fully focus on the conversation happening before him. _More accurately, his focus on them was coming and going. (Mostly it was going.)_

Right now, Marti’s burning gaze was back on him as he stood across Gio. He asked:

“What about you Gio?”

Giovanni hereby realized that the three boys were standing across him in a wobbly line while he stood across them, alone. He laughed inside at the ironicness of this and frankly at how much this particular irony happened to him.

“I gotta get home.” 

Gio saw in the corner of his eye Elia staring at him trying to get him to look back. But Gio resisted to keep their eyes from meeting trying to prevent Elia from reading into him too much. 

Luca grunted:

“Gio come on! How are we gonna do a FIFA tournament with three people?”

Gio hated saying no to the boys. When he did, even if it was a ’no’ to their crazy shenanigans, a part of him felt like he was letting them down. At least, it was rare that Gio said no because they were literally his _number one priority_ being tied with Marco.

He tried to smile:

“Another time, okay?”

Luca grunted again but said:

“Fine.”

Meanwhile, the other two boys kept looking at him. Marti’s gaze made him feel pressured and Elia’s gaze made him want to run away. So, he mostly looked at Luca as he said:

“See you tomorrow.”

In the split second that he looked at the other two boys’ faces he saw Marti’s mouth open but he quickly closed it probably not knowing what to say.

And with that Gio turned around and started to walk away from the school. He knew the boys were watching him. He knew they would text him later with tons of questions.

He sighed, pulled out an already rolled weed out of his pocket and lighted it up. As he kept walking he went through the topics he had to study in his mind.

 

* * *

 

 

**_Mercoledi 16:38-An Almost Apology_ **

 

Gio walked into the kitchen practically dragging his backpack across the floor to find his mom sitting at the table. She was looking at her laptop. When she saw Gio she said:

“Hi.”

Gio dropped his bag on the tiles and replied:

“Hi.”

He walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. After he looked at every shelf and scanned them he realized he didn’t want to eat anything off of there. It wasn’t like there were many things anyway. He guessed the weekly kitchen supply shopping wasn’t done yet. 

He walked back to his bag and picked it up but just as he was getting ready to leave his mother said:

“Gio, can we talk?”

As he stood there with his back was turned, he sighed and rolled his eyes. He could have gotten out of this by saying he needed to study or something. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t be able to escape this conversation. His mother would ask the next day and the next and the next.

So, he turned around and put his bag back at the same spot. He then pulled the chair on her left, at the square table, that had it’s back facing the door. He sat down and her mother closed the laptop pushing the screen down. She put on a smile that made Gio feel more uneasy. 

“Look honey, your father regrets what happened on Friday. He was ‘rightfully’ mad but he knows he should have never raised his hand. Even if Marco didn’t come he wasn’t going to hit you anyway.”

 _Gio didn’t believe a word of this sentence._ He broke it down in his head as she spoke. She would only call him or Marco ‘honey’ in these situations like when she was about to get mad or when she was trying to brush off a subject or in any other situation that made them uncomfortable. The fact that his mother even in an almost-apology tried to justify his father was another thing. Last sentence, was a straight up lie. His father knew he was going to hit Gio, his mother knew that, Gio knew that, Marco know that. 

Giovanni knew now that he could speak up, just like he did with his father and not accept this half-assed explanation coming from the wrong person. But he just wanted to get out of this conversation and possibly forget about what happened but never forgive his father for it. Plus, _he was trying to avoid conflicts and this talk wasn’t big enough to break his rule._

“It’s okay, mom. I know.” 

See, he could lie too.

His mother didn’t reply but just smiled. She reached and rubbed his arm and Gio had no chance but to force himself into a smile. Then they sat without speaking as Gio looked around waiting to be excused. A part of him was hoping she would still say something else, something more caring, something to support his own son. At that moment Gio wondered if her mother believe what she told him a minute ago. 

She spoke again:

“Gio?”

The part that was hoping grew inside him:

“Yes?”

“How is your studying going? We are expecting great things from you.”

There he went his hopes crashing and being sucked out of him. He shook his head still looking around:

“Good. I’m studying hard everyday.”

She reached to pat him again but this time Gio retreated back and looked down. She slowly put her hands on the table and sighed:

“Well done.”

She wasn’t looking at Gio anymore either. She pushed open his laptop and Gio took that as his cue to leave. He got up and grabbed his bag. 

Greta looked up from her computer one last time:

“Honey, do you have any money? I need to do some shopping tomorrow.”

Gio gently nodded and took a deep breath. He reached to his back and took out all of the money in his wallet and put it on the table. Greta didn’t even look up once. Gio decided to drop some more money from his savings tomorrow morning. 

He turned around, squeezed his eyes shot and took another deep breath. As he walked out his mother called out from the kitchen:

“You’ll be a great lawyer.”

 

* * *

 

**_Giovedi 14:10-Breaking The Streak_ **

 

It was another history class that Gio dreaded. Up until now, ever since they started to have history as a lesson in school, he would look forward to every single class. However, for the past two weeks he had been wanting to do anything but to go to history class. He was so sure at this point that he botched the exam that happened on Monday.

Of course, there was no escaping because he had to go to class. He walked in with Marti and Elia. They went up to their usual places and Gio said that he would sit alone this time earning himself suspicious looks from Marti and Elia but no objections. So, Gio sat next to one of their classmates while the other two boy sat at the desk in front of him.

The class wasn’t starting for another two minutes so most people were chatting amongst themselves and some were looking at their phones. Obviously, Marti and Elia were chatting too. They had even turned in their seats to get Gio invested in the conversation too but that didn’t work. Gio was only half listening and nodding. 

A minute later Eva dropped to the desk next to Gio’s. She had basically thrown herself there making a lot of noise. That was what made Gio look to the side. Eva, saw him looking and said with a smile:

“Hi.”

After seeing Eva’s smile Gio just couldn’t resist so a little smile appeared on his face as well:

“Hi.”

Eva leaned back on her chair and laughed:

“I just ran up the stairs. Can’t risk being late.”

Gio’s smile widened:

“I really couldn’t tell.”

Eva looked at him still laughing:

“Shut up.”

They looked at each other for a while and Gio felt at more ease than he has been for days. He could sense Elia and Martino watching them and definitely commenting on what they were watching. 

Two seconds later the teacher came in and Gio turned back around to face the front.

The teacher started the lesson immediately and Gio started to take notes at the same speed. He could see that Elia and Martino were only listening; he could also see Eva was taking notes too though they looked a little more summarized.

So just like that most of the class was over. Now, it was time for the teacher to announce the grades of the exam. 

Gio was getting nervous. In fact, he has been nervous since the beginning of the class. That’s why he frantically took notes: to get his mind off of it. His leg started to shake as the teacher went down in the list to announce everybody’s grade one by one. The list was in alphabetical order based on their surnames and the exam was out of a hundred.

“Eva Brighi, 82.”

Gio to get himself to calm down a little and also to congratulate Eva, turned to her. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Eva smiled back at him and it looked like a shy smile to Gio.

A few other names passed and finally it was his turn. He knew who his name was after in the list so he gulped, leaned on his desk with his elbows and prepared himself for the grade. He thought he messed it up so he was expecting something around 75. 

“Giovanni Garau, 58.”

Safe to say almost the whole class turned back at him. Everybody knew he was good at history. They have been hearing his high grades for years. The teacher cleared his throat to get everybody to mind their own business. Everybody listened except Marti, Elia and Eva who was still looking at Gio. 

Marti and Elia had turned fully with their bodies on their seats while Eva had made a quarter turn to face him. She whispered:

“Everbody messes up one time.”

Gio didn’t turn to her just nodded while he was looking down at his desk. He didn’t expect a grade this low. Considering the amount of studying he did over the weekend (even after what happened) he couldn’t believe how he got it. _He used to ace the exams without even studying and now he poured his heart and soul into this one yet he managed to fuck it up. His leg started to shake again_.

Elia continued:

“You had a great streak. It was bound to break at some point.”

Gio just nodded again. 

Marti added:

“You should look over your paper and see what you did wrong. So you won’t do the same mistakes in the next one.”

He still just nodded.

What bummed him the most was that this happened in history out of all the classes he took. 

They were whispering when they addressed Gio and their teacher tried to look over it but in the end he said:

“Guys…and Eva you can discuss it later.”

With that even though it was clear they didn’t want to Marti, Elia and Eva turned back in their seats to face the front. 

As for Gio he was no longer making study plans because apparently they weren’t working. He kept looking down thinking of something else that could bring up his grades again. 

 

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 19:12-This Better Help_ **

 

Gio was out walking a little bit fast, sometimes even crossing the street when it was red on the traffic lights. He was rushing to meet somebody from school. Not the boys or Eva or any of the girls; one of his classmates from the literature class.

His phone beeped a couple of times but he didn’t look at it. Only when it rang that he took it out of his pocket and saw it was Elia calling him. He put the phone on silent and then looked at his texts. There were a bunch from the contrabbandieri group text asking where he was, saying that they were leaving and a couple of hours later asking why didn’t he come to the tour of Nicco’s school. Followed by some pics they took there. 

Then two texts from Marti: “Why didn’t you come today?” / "You said you were gonna drop by home and then meet us back at the bus station.”

A text from Elia: “We waited for forty minutes Gio. Where the hell were you?”

Two texts from Luca: “I wish you came too.” / "It was so fun.”

Three texts from Nicco: “Marti and Elia were pissed.” / “Luca just kept saying you would love there.” / “Did something happen?”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. 

Another beep and it was a text from Marco saying mom said that he should be home by 20.30 because they would have dinner at that time.

Gio only sent a quick reply to Marco saying ‘I’ll be at home by 8.”

He sighed again and got on with his walk. 

About five minutes have passed with him walking fastly through the sidewalk not looking around when somebody said:

“Gio!”

He whipped his head to the left side to see Filippo and Edoardo. It was the worst time possible. 

“Uhh hi.” he said as he moved towards them. 

“What are you doing here?” Filippo asked.

Gio ran his head through his hair:

“Just meeting a friend.”

Edo nodded and Gio felt like he realized Gio wasn’t in the mood for small talk. The same couldn’t be said about Filippo:

“Me and Edo here are out on a brother-in-laws night out.” Filippo said with a big smile.

Edo laughed shaking his head:

“Meaning Ele had a girls night planned.”

If Gio wasn’t too occupied in his mind he would have laughed at this exchange. He took his phone out to check the time as the other two boys watched him.

Edo said with knitted eyebrows; he looked almost concerned:

“Are you in a rush?”

Gio quickly shook his head up and down:

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.”

Filippo was still not letting him go:

“I’ve heard you’ve missed today’s university tour.”

Gio’s mind was too occupied yet he was still confused about how Filippo knew about the university tour and on top of that he missed it. Then, his logic worked and he figure Marti or Nicco must have told him.

“Something else came up.” Gio said while fidgeting

He saw Edo and Filippo look at each other and then to him. They were probably very worried about his weird state but he could handle them so Gio didn’t think too much of it.

Finally, after thirty seconds of silence he looked back on the street and then turned to the boys:

“I gotta run. See you.”

He started to walk again without waiting for their answer. As he took his first steps he faintly heard them say ‘See you too.’

About eight minutes later he was in front of a bar. Some rock music was playing and a lot of people were coming in and out. There were a couple of people standing by the door and smoking.

He got his phone out and typed a text. After, he started to tap the phone to his palm and shift from one foot to the other impatiently waiting. 

A few minutes passed and the guy from school, Samuele exited the bar and walked over to Gio who was waiting on the sidewalk at the corner. When he reached to Gio they shook hands. 

“Sorry for getting you all the way down here.” the guy said

Gio nervously moved his hands from side to side:

“No, it’s okay.”

Samuele pulled a little orange bottle out of the pocket of his blue jacket:

“Here you go. Like I said it will help you focus and study longer hours.”

Gio gave out a breath, grabbed it and stuffed the bottle into his jean jacket’s pocket:

“Thanks.” he said.

Then, took out the money he already had ready in the back pocket of his jeans. He extended it to the guy. Samuele took it and put it in his own pocket. 

“Pleasure trading with you.” Samuele said. Then, stretched out his hand for another hand shake. 

When the boy entered the bar again Gio took the deepest breath ever and gave it out. _He didn’t know if he was making a mistake or not. He hadn’t doubted a decision in his like this for years._ Following, the history class of yesterday he thought a lot about what he could do about his grades and school and future and everything at home. Studying harder did not seem like an option because he felt like he had already studied his hardest. Anyway, even if he got better in the next exam it still wouldn’t be enough to go to one of the law schools his parents wanted for him. About them, he had found the only way to escape from dealing with them was to study non-stop in his room. (It gave him an excuse for them and kept his mind busy.)

All these led him to this _crazy and doomed-to-fail idea._ He had never bought something from Samuele before but Gio knew he was the go to guy in this. So he texted him today at school and the boy said to meet him there in the evening. 

He missed the university tour that happened at 16.00 and ended at 18.00 for two reasons: he had to drop by home (that part wasn’t a lie) and get some money and then he needed to get to this bar at the other end of the city. So, it looked like he didn’t have the time. Also, he didn’t have time and enough brain activity to make up an excuse for the boys.

 _Gio knew had to keep this a secret from everyone because even the boys who smoked weed all the time would most definitely freak out at the sight of this._ Every single one of them. He was planning out a hiding place in his room in advance.

‘This better help.’ he thought as he turned around and started to walk the way back to his home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I'm curious as to what you think and what are you expecting from the next chapters.
> 
> I now realized that I mistook the starting and ending hours of Italian schools and made it like my old high school. Sorry for that. Also I couldn't find how the normal exams are graded in Italian high schools so I just made them out of 100. Feel free to tell me the any inaccuracies of Italian culture etc.


	5. Episode 5 : Something To Make Me Focus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the immortal words of Penetrator Chris : Dramaaaaaa!
> 
> Also, this chapter is very long compared to the others so get ready (and sorry for the length in advance).

**_Sabato 20:12-Five Minute Break_ **

Gio was in his room sitting at his desk. His computer was open on the left side of his desk with a long article on it. Over the keyboard there was a torn out book open. On the right sight of the desk was a pile of three textbooks and lots of papers. Right in front of him was his half-full note pad. There were some pens all over the desk and some scrap paper on the floor. 

Gio was looking at the computer, then to the book and copying some things down to the notepad. Sometimes he would take another book or paper from the pile and read something of it to copy them down. His hand was hurting from all the writing he has done. He put the pen down and shook his hand in the air a little. Then, he leaned back on his black chair and stretched. After, he was back to writing down. 

At this point he had no idea for how long he had been studying. He felt like if he had stopped for a minute he was going to fail all of his classes. After, he received the lowest grade of his life and made some risky decisions; he knew he had to push it all the way. His regular grades weren’t enough for the schools his parents wanted and now he was below his regular ones. So yeah, _the only way out for him was to study without even breathing._

Another ten minutes passed and his eyes started to burn. He leaned back once again and rubbed his eyes. That was a cry for break from his body. He decided to give himself five minutes of break. After all, he had to have his body function normally to pass the lessons and get good grades again. 

Gio got up from his chair, got out his lighter and weed from the right bottom drawer of his desk. He walked over to the windows right at the back of his desk and opened one. He then lighted up his already rolled joint and blew the smoke out. Studying while high wasn’t the smartest move especially considering his ambitions but at least it helped him relax a little. Considering the pros and cons; relaxing seemed more important at that moment for the stress-driven Gio. 

His phone beeped and he reached over to the desk to grab it. It was a text from Edoardo which earned a scowl from Gio, aimed at the phone screen. The text read:

“I’m here for the weekend if you want to hang out. I heard you play guitar too.”

Gio blew another smoke out the window and sighed. Edoardo was a nice enough guy to notice something was wrong with Gio yesterday and send him a text kinda to check up on him. Gio replied with a simple “Sorry, I need to study dude.” It wasn’t a lie. He needed to study but also he didn’t want to have Edoardo ask him questions.

While his phone was in his hand he decided to check the other texts he had been ignoring for hours. The last he checked his phone was when the sky was bright and now the sun had already gone down. He blew another smoke and leaned against the wall. There was a text from Elia that read:

“Where were you yesterday evening?” followed by another one that read, “And don’t lie. I know you weren’t at home.”

Somehow Elia figured out he wasn’t home but that seemed like an educated guess because he hadn’t given them a solid excuse for yesterday yet. He sighed again and decided to ignore Elia. Anyway, it was Elia. He could get mad but he would understand when Gio didn’t explain much.

Lastly there was a text from Eva that read:

“Hey! Do you want to study history together? Like the old times.”

Gio smiled a little to himself. How the tables have turned he thought like the millionth time recently. Maybe being the student once could help with the grades he thought. Then, he texted Eva:

“Sure. That would be good.”

He blew the last bit of smoke and put out the joint right outside the window. As he put his phone back down to the desk the little orange bottle in his backpack caught his eyes. He gulped and reached to it. Later, he dropped into his chair and sulked still holding the bottle with a shaky leg.

That was when his computer started to beep. He looked up and saw it was coming from Skype. ‘Fuck.’ he thought to himself. He quickly put the bottle somewhere on the table out of the view of the laptop camera.

He opened the Skype and forced a smile:

“Hi.”

Sophia with her trademarked big smile replied:

“Hi!” and added, “You look like shit.”

Always trust Sophia to be honest, Gio thought. 

“Thanks.” he replied trying to sound sarcastic. “And you look amazing, as usual.” he said.

She flipped her hair:

“Yeah, I’m known for that.”

Sophia laughed at her own joke while Gio only smiled faintly. A few seconds passed and probably because Gio didn’t talk Sophia started to talk:

“I watched a British movie the other day. You would love it. It’s basically John Lennon’s teenage days….” 

Gio was seeing her talk and talk with such enthusiasm as he dozed of and lost track of what she was telling. He tried so hard to keep his eyes on the screen but they kept darting back to the pile of papers and the notepad and the textbook. His focus was getting real bad again. Also, with this talk he was passing his five minute break that was mandated by himself.

After a while, Sophia must have noticed Gio’s distracted state because she stopped talking. Gio suddenly realizing the lessening in the background noise looked at the screen to find Sophia staring at him with her smile wiped off and a concerned look on her face. 

“Gio, are you okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Gio nodded. 

“Are you sure?” she asked with a soft tone and raised eyebrows.

“I’m just tired. Been studying a lot.” he grabbed his notepad and showed it to the camera.

“Okay.” she answered not sounding so convinced.

Gio took the opportunity there, “In fact, I need to go back to studying. Can we talk another time?”

She smiled still keeping the concerned look, “Sure. Text me when you are free.” 

With that she logged off and Gio closed the Skype app. He leaned back in his chair one last time and threw his head to the back. He then took a deep breath and leaned in. The bottle caught his eye again. He reached to it again and grabbed it. 

Gio turned it around and around in his hands and just kept staring at it.

 

* * *

 

**_Domenica 13:08-Importance List_ **

 

Gio’s desk was the same as yesterday only messier. There were a lot more lose papers lying everywhere including the floor. He had a big cup of coffee right next to his notepad. He had been awake since 8 am and been studying ever since he had his breakfast that consisted of half a piece of burnt toast. His parents and Marco woke up an hour later but he told them he ate something already and that he was studying. Marco gave him a suspicious look and his parents left him alone. 

The coffee wasn’t there for his personal taste and pleasure. It was there to keep him awake and focused.

Yesterday, he was studying history. Now, it was time for literature. He grabbed a thick notebook and a colored pen. Then, he started to read a chapter and underline the important parts. Half the reading was done when he realized he really should get a highlighter. 

His phone beeped and he ignored it. It beeped again and he only started to read faster. It rang this time and Gio only peeked to see who was calling. It was Martino. Gio guessed he was going to question him for Friday so he ignored it again and put the phone on silent. Apparently, his silent wasn’t totally silent because two minutes later it buzzed. 

Gio dropped his pen on the table with a little annoyance. He sighed and picked up his phone. All of the texts were from Marti. Basically, Nicco was having one of his bad days and Marti was asking if he could come around.

He grabbed his phone, wallet, keys and he was out of the home door a minute later. He said to his parents from the door that he was going out to get some pens and notebooks.

_No matter how stressed or desperate Gio was, even if Marti was mad at him, there was nothing that could pass Marti asking for his help in his importance list._

 

* * *

 

**_Domenica 14:40-Step By Step_ **

 

Gio had been in the Rametta-Fares residence for about five minutes and Marti without saying much had sent him to their bedroom for him to try his chance with Nicco.

He was glad that the whole send off was quick because he didn’t want to argue with Marti and he wanted to see if he could help as soon as possible.

Gio took a breath and knocked on the door. There was no answer. _This was like the eight time Gio was doing this so he knew what he had to do step by step_. He would knock a couple of times and wait for answers. Only if Nicco answers back that he enters. If not he would sit by the door and let Nicco know that he was just outside. 

He knocked again and added, “Hi Nicco, it’s Gio.” this time. No answer again. 

He knocked one more time and waited for an answer. Before knocking once more he asked, “Can I come in?” 

It had been about a minute when he heard a gentle, “Okay.”

He looked back in the corridor to see if he could spot Marti before going in but he was probably back in the living room. So Gio slowly pushed open the door and entered. Nicco was snuggled up in the bed with the covers almost over his head. Gio spotted some crumbled up papers around.

“Hi.” he said and walked over to the end of the bed. 

Nicco didn’t answer. Even after a year of knowing Nicco and researching “BPD” with Marti and the boys Gio was still lost at what he should do or shouldn’t do. He thought Marti was doing an amazing job; he was especially so patient. But sometimes the boys needed to step in and have a talk with Nicco or just sit with him to create a safe space. 

“We don’t have to talk.” Gio said. He would always exclusively state that.  

Then again like always he asked, “Is it okay I hang out here for a while?”

Nicco answered this time still with a low voice:

“Sure.”

So Gio leaned against the wall across the bed and just stood there watching Nicco. All Gio knew was to be just there and show that he was just there. About ten minutes passed with both of them in the same positions. That was when Gio heard a shuffling outside and some footsteps. He realized it was Marti who was probably going out of his mind with worry. 

Gio put on the softest voice he could find:

“Marti told me you haven’t eaten anything lately. He made a great toast.” 

He paused to see if Nicco was reacting to anything. When he didn’t see any reaction he continued:

“Do you think you can eat a little bit of it?”

Gio patiently started to wait for an answer. He didn’t know if it was the way he talk or his presence but whenever Gio suggested this Nicco would say yes and eat something. That was why in these situations Gio was the first one of the boys Marti called. Gio also liked to believe that Marti called him because he was Gio. 

A minute later Nicco replied without lifting his head:

“Okay. I’ll eat.”

Gio opened the door and found Marti standing there basically pacing around in the corridor. Gio nodded to him and Marti rushed to the kitchen to bring a tray that had a toast on a tiny plate, a glass of water and a little cut out heart that Marti always put. He gave it to Gio. Gio spotted the heart and smiled internally. Then, he took the tray inside.

“I’m going to put it on the night stand.” Gio said and walked over to the night stand on Nicco’s side. 

After, he walked back to the wall he was leaning on before and stood there. A couple of minutes later Nicco shuffled in bed and pushed down the covers a little. He reached to the tray, grabbed the toast and took a little bite. Seeing that Gio smiled:

“Bon appetit.” and he exited the room giving Nicco his privacy again.

He took a deep breath when he got out and felt a relief over the fact that he got Nicco to eat. He came because Marti asked him to but Gio would worry about Nicco as much as he worried about the other boys. Gio wanted him to be okay and he did his best to help. _The hardest lesson to learn for Gio was that he couldn’t always make things better for Nicco._ Gio lived to help his friends and he always managed to make things better with Marti or Elia or Luca. But with Nicco things were different. 

This time Marti wasn’t outside the door. Gio ran a hand through his hair, walked through the corridor and entered the living room. Marti was sitting on the couch. He was leaning front with his elbows resting on his legs and his hands under his chin. He looked up the moment Gio entered the room. Before Marti could ask anything Gio said:

“He is eating it.” 

Marti smiled a bit:

“Thank you.”

Gio just stood awkwardly there and smiled so faintly:

“Always.”

Much to Gio’s surprise Marti didn’t grill him about Friday, he didn’t even ask a single question. Also, he didn’t seem to notice the absolute mess that was Gio’s hair or the t-shirt on him that had coffee stains everywhere. Never mind the dark circles under his eye. But that was normal Marti had Nicco on his mind and that’s exactly what he should have in his mind. 

“I should go.” Gio said.

Marti looked up again and nodded. He was about to stood up when Gio motioned him to sit again with his hands:

“I’ll let myself out. Call me if anything happens.”

So Marti dropped back to the couch:

“Will do.”

Gio walked to the door, opened it and gently closed it behind him trying not to make too much noise. 

He got out into the streets and gave out a shaky breath. Then, he checked the clock on his phone and started to walk quickly to rush home.

 

* * *

 

**_Martedi 09:10-Pretending_ **

 

Gio was almost at the school gate. He had his hood up and he was literally dragging his feet. His head was down as he stared at the ground. That was why he didn’t realize that he came to the walls and that he was passing the girls. But they have recognized him. He heard Eva’s voice saying:

“Good morning, Gio.”

So he froze in his tracks turned to the left and looked up. Eva was standing in the middle with Ele then Sana on her left side and Silvia then Fede on her right side. He forced a smile:

“Good morning.”

He tried looking at all of them to be polite and also because he didn’t want to stare at Eva for too long.

“How was your history quiz from yesterday?” Eva asked as she was leaning to the brick wall. 

 _Gio couldn’t help but think that under the soft morning sun, her hair shined and she looked so beautiful._ But his mind spiraled around her question immediately after. He looked down and shook his head:

“Good, good. Yours?”

She must have noticed Gio’s mood because her smile faded away a little.

“Good.” After a pause she added, “My offer of studying together is still waiting.”

Gio smiled faintly but for real this time:

“Thanks. I’ll take that offer.”

As they talked the girls were just standing there watching them. He saw in the corner of his eye Eleonora especially looking at him with a scowl so he guessed Edoardo must have told her about Gio’s weird state on Friday.

It looked like their little convo was coming to an end and as much as Gio would love to talk to Eva he felt weird being on the watch by the girls and he was so tired he just needed to sit down, have some coffee. But before he could excuse himself Silvia asked:

“Hey, Gio how was the university tour? Luca canceled our date for it.”

Gio sighed and rubbed his forehead. He had successfully managed to escape from the boys and their questions yesterday only to be asked by Silvia who had no idea what was happening.

“I didn’t go.” He shuffled in his place which earned him concerned looks from Eva and Ele. “But they sent me pictures. It looked fun.”

Silvia nodded:

“Because Luca said he about forgot our date when he promised you guys. So he cancelled it last minute. And I thought…” she didn’t finish the sentence and looked at Gio.

Gio cursed to himself. Luca who has been lovesick for Silvia for months cancelled their date while Gio was out buying pills that could help him study and lying to the boys. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he realized it wasn’t the time to feel guilty because he needed to back up Luca.

He put his hand in his jean jacket’s pocket exposing the food and coffee stains on his t-shirt and the little burned place where he accidentally dropped some ash. This look earned him glances from all the girls. 

“Luchi-Luca, would never lie to you. I know the lying boyfriend type and he isn’t.” He paused and averted his eyes away from Eva and turned to Silvia fully, “He would only lie his ass of if he is making a surprise for you but he would fail so miraculously at it that you would recognize.”

He saw a little smile appear on Silvia’s face and _for the first time in days he felt like he did something good_. He saw Fede look at her and bump her with a cheeky smile. He also saw Sana looking at them and laughing while shaking her head. But Eva and Ele were still looking at him. Their gaze had the same affect as Marti’s, meaning he felt small under them. 

He was about to say goodbye but Eva beat him up to it. She took a step forward leaving the other girls behind (now Silvia, Fede and Sana were chatting while Ele was watching Gio and Eva).

“Are you okay?” Eva said with the softest tone.

Gio did his best forced smile:

“Yeah. I just couldn’t sleep much last night.”

Eva eyed at him from top to bottom obviously not looking convinced. She crossed her arms and looked at him straight in the ye.

“Really.” Gio said while nodding. _Like he said, he knew the lying type._

Without giving Eva a chance to say anything else he said:

“I have to go.” He took a few steps backwards, still facing Eva. “We’ll talk about that studying later.”

He turned around and took a few more steps when Ele yelled from behind:

“Gio, wait! Edo wanted to me to ask you something.”

It was loud enough for him to hear and stop; also it was detailed probably to explain to the girls why she was coming after Gio. He rolled his eyes and sighed. It was hard having the list of people he was keeping things from that was suspicious of him grew. Now it was: Marti, Elia, Luca, Nicco, Sophia, Eva, Edoardo, Eleonora and maybe Filippo. She walked up to him and they started to walk together:

“Gio. I know we don’t talk much.” she said.

Gio nodded and Ele continued:

“Edo told me you were a bit weird on Friday and you don’t look so good today either-

Gio stopped abruptly and raised his hand to get to stop her as well:

“It’s nice that Edo was worried and you too but I’m fine really.”

They stood there silently. Ele was pulling on her shirt and bag. 

“Okay.” she said nodding. 

Gio felt bad that he shut her down like that so he put on another fake smile:

“But thank you, truly.”

She smiled back:

“Of course.”

Without either of them saying anything they started to walk inside the school together. A while later they separated their ways with simple ‘Bye’s. 

Gio realized he needed to work on his forced smile and get better at pretending if he didn’t want people to question what the hell was going on. 

 

* * *

 

 

 ** _Giovedi 15:45-Deal?_**  

 

Gio was sitting on the window sill with Elia. It was right after their history class. Marti had already said goodbye, saying he was meeting his mother for a coffee and desert. Marti still hadn’t grilled Gio for last Friday. It didn’t even come up. Gio had told them he had to run an errand for his father and because he had mentioned his father none of them asked follow up questions-even if they didn’t believe him.

Gio’s back was leaned against the wall. He was sitting parallel to the window with his one leg standing up on the sill while the other was swinging down. Elia was next to him with his back turned to the window as he faced front. Both of his feet were dangling down.

Elia was looking at his phone texting non-stop with somebody while Gio was lost in his head. He had gotten the results of the quiz they had on Monday back and it was 5 out of 10 this time. It was just the average grade and it was three points higher than the previous one. So, a normal student might have been happy but not Gio. If he went at this rate his grades wouldn’t get better in time. It was clear that he wasn’t enough on his own; he definitely needed some external help, any external help really. 

He sighed and dropped his head to the back. His head hit to the wall with enough sound to not hurt him but to catch Elia’s attention. That wasn’t Gio’s intention. He didn’t think Elia would look up from his phone.

As Gio was standing like that with his eyes closed Elia cleared his throat and hit him on the leg:

“Hey!”

Gio opened his eyes and without rising his head looked at Elia. The other boy had a scowl on and a very serious face.

“Look, I haven’t asked you anything around the others. And I waited almost a week Gio for you to say something _but clearly you prefer suffering alone._ ”

Gio wasn’t ready to deal with pissed Elia. He thought Elia was going to be like others : worried and silently questioning. Or Elia was going to be like Elia and not ask anything just read as much as he could. 

He didn’t answer so Elia continued:

“I know our deal is that we took care of the others right? And we don’t ask anything to each other. But that was because I could read you before and know what to do. Not this time.”

Gio slowly raised his head and sat up straighter. Elia was turned to him with his whole body. They stood like that for a minute, silently looking at each other. That was until Elia hit him on the leg again. 

“Are you going to speak or should I keep asking?”

Gio gulped and looked down, guess he had to give something to Elia:

“I’m sorry for ditching-

Elia hit him on the leg again, harder this time:

“No. I’m not asking you to apologize. Just explain.”

Gio was going to have to give a little more than something to Elia. He pushed his mind to work to find an excuse close enough to the truth so that Elia would believe:

“I’m stressed about school work and future. I’m just studying non-stop.” He motioned at himself with his two hands showing Elia the circles under his eyes and his messy clothes. “That is the reason beyond all this.”

It was almost the entire truth. He skipped the part about his family, obviously, and about the whole truth of last Friday. Gio looked at Elia’s face carefully and it looked like he believed him.

Then, Elia’s face softened and his scowl faded away:

“I don’t feel the same stress. But we can study together if you want?” in the end he had a smirk on his face.

Gio smiled a genuine smile too:

“Those studies when we make cheat sheets truly helps me.”

Elia hit Gio’s leg one more time as he laughed:

“Fuck you.”

 _Gio still had the same smile. It didn’t grow but at least it hadn’t gone away either_ :

“What? I’m telling the truth.”

Elia laughed a little more while Gio kept smiling. Just as Gio thought he had successfully managed to dodge Elia’s questions without lying too much the other boy asked:

“And what were you doing last Friday?” 

Elia’s face was still soft but his eyes looked stern, demanding an answer. Gio replied with a question:

“How did you know I wasn’t at home?” with raised eyebrows.

That somehow got Elia to stop talking. He opened his mouth and closed it. Gio felt like he was struggling to find an answer which didn’t happen much with Elia. Finally he said:

“I just know when you are lying.”

‘Not really.’ Gio thought to himself but didn’t say it out loud. Instead he said:

“Fine. After I did some errands for my dad I was stressed and bored so I went for some drinks. Okay?”

Elia didn’t look convinced unlike before. He raised his eyebrows:

“And who were you with?”

Gio didn’t quite understand where was this coming from and why would Elia think he was with someone. He shook his head:

“No one.”

Elia didn’t say anything back for a moment and it looked like he was measuring what Gio said. Around a minute later he said:

“Okay.”

Elia extended his hand over to Gio and Gio grabbed it and shook it. While they were still shaking hands Elia said:

“I won’t ask too much but you won’t keep too much to yourself. Deal?”

Gio said ‘Fuck’ inside but said:

“Deal.” out loud. 

He was already breaking that deal and it looked like he was going to break it some more. _On top of everything he was now a bad friend too which Gio liked to believe he never was_. If there was one thing Gio was proud about himself it was that he was a damn good friend. He felt like he needed a smoke. 

 

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 18:30-Something To Make Me Focus_ **

 

The boys, Gio, Elia, Marti, Luca, Nicco, had finished a game of table football. The teams were Marti, Nicco and Gio versus Elia and Luca. Even with the unevenness of the teams Elia and Luca were still unbeatable. So the chaos ensued a little after the game.

Gio was normally going to go home to study but the boys pressured him too much. He made another pros and cons list and decided that not having them be suspicious of him was more important. Also, he could pull an all-nighter and study anyway. He could prop up his _external help_ too which was in his bag now. Gio felt like his bag was heavier because of it. 

Now they were saying their goodbyes. Everybody was hugging, shaking hands. Gio stayed quiet throughout the game and knew the boys watched him but he actually had a good time. Another pro was this because now it was going to give him energy to study. 

He had just said goodbye to Elia who made Gio promise to text him over the weekend when Nicco came over to him. He reached in for a hug and so Gio hugged him back. After they were separated Nicco said with a little smile as he pulled on his sleeves:

“By the way, Gio thanks for last week.”

Gio felt some pride because of one more good thing he did this past week. _He didn’t feel like the best people around lately._ He reached and squeezed Nicco’s shoulder:

“Always. You know that.”

Nicco’s smile widened and he shook his head looking down. A minute later he was walking away to say goodbye to somebody else. 

Then, Marti walked up to him. When he was next to Gio, Gio took him in for a hug and ruffled his hair. He hoped this sweet, little act could erase some of the tension of the past few weeks. It looked like it worked too. Marti didn’t seem mad or anything as he said:

“Do you want to come over this weekend?”

“I have to study.” Gio said sulking his shoulders a little. 

“Then, I’ll see you on Monday.” he said with a little smile. 

And Gio just nodded back. Another minute later Marti was gone too.

To be honest, Gio didn’t think he looked better today. His hair was still a mess, the dark circles were getting bigger. The one difference was that he was wearing a clean t-shirt. He guessed the boys kinda finally accepted that Gio wasn’t going to talk so they let it go. Or maybe aside from Elia they just didn’t notic _e. He scratched his head. He didn’t know why he obsessed over this. It was what Gio wanted: that people didn’t ask questions and didn’t worry._ Maybe he just got better at pretending like he realized he should do on Tuesday.

After the other three boys had left only Luca and Gio had remained. They were going on the same bus up until one point where Luca needed to switch buses. 

They were still inside the cafe that had the table football. They had said their goodbyes in there. Luca grabbed his bag from the ground and threw it over his shoulder:

“Should we go?” he asked facing Gio.

Gio reached to his own bag and unfortunately did not notice that the zipper of the front pocket was open. When he grabbed it quickly the orange bottle fell down to the ground and rolled over at Luca’s side. The boy was now facing the other way but the noise had made him turn around. Gio was frozen in panic, which happened never actually, so all he did was to stare at the bottle. This directed Luca’s attention to the bottle too. Luca bowed down and took the bottle. He turned it around in his hands and got it closer to his face. 

Gio knew then he had truly fucked up. He could not brush this over, he could not lie about this. It was going to be so messy. 

Luca took a couple of steps towards Giovanni:

“What’s this?”

Gio reached to grab it out of Luca’s hand but Luca pulled his hand back at the perfect moment. 

“Something to make me focus that’s all.” Gio answered trying to be ambiguous.

“What do you mean something?” Luca said slightly raising his voice and shaking the bottle in front of Gio’s face. 

Gio realizing this could turn into yelling at any second now grabbed Luca’s arm:

“Not here.”

He dragged Luca outside with him and let go of his arm only at the door. Then, Gio walked trying to get away from that cafe and Luca followed him stomping his feet on the ground.  

When they finally stood facing at each other Gio said:

“It’s no big deal. Just a little help.”

“I know what drugs is Gio. And this is a drug.” Luca said with high voice still shaking the bottle.

Gio gave out a breath and tried not to raise his voice:

“It’s not drugs like that. Some kind of medicine.”

Luca looked at the bottle, lowering his voice:

“Is it like that adderal thing?”

Gio nodded:

“Kind of.”

Gio thought he managed to get Luca to calm down a little but he was mistaken. Luca stared at the bottle for a few seconds then almost yelled:

“But you can still get addicted!”

Gio felt like he told enough. Now, he needed to do damage control and explain to Luca as logically as he could and hope Luca’s freaking out would decrease. Also, he felt like he needed to convince Luca that everything was okay so he wouldn’t tell the others. Two seconds later he thought, never mind of course Luchino was going to tell the others. 

“But it doesn’t work like those drugs, okay? I won’t get addicted that easily.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” the boy was almost going red. 

Honestly, Gio had never seen him as upset and as mad like this. No matter what Luca was always the sunshine of their group making everybody laugh. 

“Weed is a drug too but we all smoke it and we don’t get addicted easily.”

Luca stomped his right foot:

“It’s not the same thing!” he yelled.

Yeah, Gio was so screwed. His damage control wasn’t working. Gio put on his calmest voice ever:

“Luchino...” smart use of the nickname Gio thought. “…I know what I’m doing. I’m going to take some over the next few weeks then I won’t ever buy it. I promise.”

Gio didn’t knew if he was telling the truth. Maybe he would buy more. _But he needed to take one first to decided that. Yeah, he hadn’t got himself brave enough to take one pill yet._ He liked to believe he could do this on his own. That he could study and study without sleeping and he could get better on his own. He made a stupid decision buying that but he was smart enough to know the risks. He obviously knew that Luca was right and that he could get addicted. So, he was still being cautious trying to postpone the moment he feels he has to take the pill.

Luca looked like he believed Gio’s lie but it wasn’t enough for him. He shook his head from side to side rapidly:

“No! NO!” he shouted.

Gio took a step forward:

“Come on Luca. I promise it’s not harmful like you think.” he tried to force a tiny smile trying to get Luca to calm down. 

That unfortunately did the opposite affect, he got angrier.

“Stop talking to me like I’m a little kid!”

Gio was looking around and with that sentence he snapped his head back to the boy:

“If you don’t want to be treated like a kid, STOP ACTING LIKE A KID!” Gio shouted as well.

The moment it was out of his mouth Gio felt a wave of regret hit him. He wished he could catch the words and pull them back so that he would have never uttered these words. But it was too late. This was the moment he fucked up the most.

Luca didn’t say anything he just stared back at Gio with his hand that was holding the bottle trembling. Gio saw him gulp probably gulping back all the emotions. He dropped the bottle to the ground, it looked like it was intentionally done. The cap opened up and the pills spilled all over the ground. Luca held onto his backpack with his hands and turned around in an instant. He started to walk away without even looking back. His steps were getting faster by the minute 

Gio tried yelling from where he was standing:

“Luca!” but the words died out in his mouth.

Now, Gio felt like he was in the shoes of last year’s Marti. He transported back to the night outside the club where Marti hurt the boys while shouting things at them. Gio remembered how taken aback he was. That must be what Luca was feeling now, he thought. He cursed himself. He wanted to beat himself up. 

Nothing good he did over this week or this month or this year seemed like it could make up for this. He finally let things escalate with one stupid decision and one moment he couldn’t hold himself. It wasn’t what he thought about Luca really. The words came out of his mouth as a result of his tiredness, his desperation over everything and his anger to himself that he couldn’t talk openly with Luca.

He only wished the boys would be as understanding to him as they were to Marti last year. Gio started to walk to the same direction as Luca did a few minutes ago, crushing the pills under his shoes, hoping they wouldn’t end up on the same bus now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii! I hope you liked it!!!
> 
> As always I'm waiting for your feedbacks and also your guesses about what is coming next!!!
> 
> Gio is going to suffer just a bit more before things get better. But as you can see he has all these people beside him.
> 
> This chapter was like a trip inside his mind and a little look to his selflessness and mom friendness.


	6. Episode 6 : No Going Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!!!
> 
> So the drama is still going and Gio is still a mess. But some things are getting resolved too.
> 
> Sorry for the little delay!

**_Lunedi 09:05-Running Away_ **

 

Gio had left home without eating much of his breakfast and after chucking down his coffee. He was back to wearing some dirty t-shirt and even though it was a little windy he had forgot to grab his hoodie or jean jacket. His curls were all chaotic, his face was all pale, his blue eyes had lost their light and his dark circles were more visible than ever.

 

He had slept a total of 6 overs over the weekend. Two hours for each night. _He was drowning under his guilt once again._ This guilt had brought up other guilts in his life too. He was thinking about Marco’s asthma attack and he realized that he wasn’t over that night. It had piled on to his guilt about Luca. _Gio never once broke any of his friends’ hearts_. Never. He was always so careful with them. Even when he was mad or even when he was calling them out he never crossed the line. Until last Friday of course.

 

He knew he needed to apologize to Luca even if it won't make things better. But considering the start of the talk and how he had to have confrontation with Luca and the boys about the pills too made him want to run away. All the past confrontations Gio had with the boys were about them, not him. He wasn’t the one to tell things and he also wasn’t the one to act weird because he was hiding something. The opposite was true in the second one. He would hide so many things but he was able to not act weird. That’s why they never knew about the fights at home, about how much he was scolded, about all the worry he had about Marco, about his stress for future… So naturally the boys never had to confront him about his issues because they weren’t a problem. It was not like Gio knew how to apologize either. Apologizing wasn’t his best suit. Just ask to Eva, he thought. 

 

Honestly, he had no fucking clue about what to do. Luca was mad at him and upset. He certainly told all of it to the boys. That meant that Marti and Elia and possibly Nicco was mad at him too. Great. Gio had managed to fall out with all of his friends. 

 

If he hadn’t have to attend classes because he had to do better in them, he wouldn’t come to school. But here he was just a few steps away from the gate. 

 

He had been walking real slow to avoid seeing others as long as he could. 

 

A few steps later he was at the walls. Gio was dreading to look up; he didn’t want to face any of his friends. He kept his face down and took a few more steps. Now, he was closer to the gate. The rational side of him decided to look up and around to see if the boys were there. So that he would know exactly how to avoid them. 

 

He spotted Marti and Luca along with the girls at the other side of the gate. Luca was next to Silvia leaning against the wall. Gio noticed that even from afar that Luca wasn’t looking so good either. He was sulked down as Silvia talked next to him. Fede and Sana were next to them chatting amongst themselves. Marti, Eva and Ele were across the wall and hurdled up into a circle. All of them had a troubled look as they shuffled while talking. Gio saw Marti look back at Luca and the girls followed his eyes too. He wondered where Elia was.

 

It seemed to Gio that Luca had told all about it to the boys and maybe Silvia knew too. Now, Marti was telling it to Eva and Eleonora. 

 

He was enormously fucked up. He didn’t know how to explain it all to any of them. Gio had been purposely keeping his issues from everyone around him and today everyone around him knew all his issues.

 

Silvia was facing his way and the girl spotted him which made Gio look back down immediately and walk the fastest he has been this morning. 

 

He felt nervous as he got to the gate; his heart was racing and even though the wind should have been making him cold he felt like was sweating. A minute ago he was trying to avoid them but suddenly he felt this urge to look up to in order to see how much he had disappointed everybody. How much he had disappointed Luca especially. Gio knew Luca looked up to him. They were the same age obviously but that wasn’t the thing. _Luchino absolutely loved everything Gio did; in his eyes Gio could do nothing wrong_. Not only Gio crushed that image in Luca’s eyes with doing something wrong by buying those pills he had also hurt Luca. Two strikes in one night. 

 

So, he looked up and saw that everybody was already staring at him except for Luca who was looking down. 

 

He stood there for a few seconds, gulping and his heart still beating fast. He tried not to look at anybody directly or if he did he would quickly avert his eyes.

 

What felt like forever had passed when Eva while pulling down on her jacket stepped forward. She brushed her hair over her ear:

 

“Gio…” she said in the softest voice.

 

But Gio took a step backwards suddenly feeling like he needed to run away again. He turned around and rushed inside to the school.

 

He decided now, he needed to avoid all of them for sure now.

 

* * *

 

**_Martedi 11:50-Mom Friends_ **

 

Gio’s plan had worked and he had been perfectly avoiding the boys (and the girls) for one day. Yesterday in history class he had sit in a different desk totally messing up the whole order of the class. Then, he was the first one out of the door trying to not give an opportunity to Elia, Marti or Eva a chance to approach to him.

 

Today, he had a literature class with all three of them and he was already making the perfect plan to keep avoiding them. He had managed to brush his hair today and got himself a clean t-shirt. But he had forgotten to bring a hoodie once again and his lack of sleep was still showing on his body. So he was a mess but more of an half-mess now.

 

As he was making his way to the vending machine in the lower floor to get himself a coffee he came to the stairs. When he got there he stopped walking abruptly causing a line behind him. Marti, Elia and Luca were sitting at the window sill right at the stairs. 

 

Gio in order to not disrupt his plan started backing down into the corridor. He was walking backwards and he kept walking backwards as he entered the corridor. That was until he bumped into someone. He turned around to apologize just to face Eleonora. 

 

Could’ve been worse though, Gio thought. He took a few steps to the side, trying to get away from the middle of the corridor:

 

“Sorry.” he said averting his eyes.

 

“It’s fine.” Eleonora said with a small smile.

 

Gio was shuffling in his place thinking of a smooth excuse to walk away when Ele added:

 

“You still don’t look so good.”

 

Gio chuckled nervously and scratched his head:

 

“Yeah, thanks.”

 

Gio kept shuffling as Eleonora firmly stood her place. She had joined her hands in front of her and was looking at him:

 

“Can I say something this time?”

 

Gio partly because he felt bad that he crashed into her and partly because he thought he wasn’t going to be able to shut her down this time said:

 

“Sure.” while looking down.

 

She unjoined her hands and pointed at Gio with a raised eyebrow:

 

“You are the _'mom friend'_ right?”

 

Gio’s confusion must have reached his face and posture because she went on to explain:

 

“You take care of the boys. You worry about them, you help them, you support them, you give advices. You also fight for them without even blinking an eye.” she said referencing to the fight last year. 

 

Ele paused there while both of them had a flashback to those fights with the homophobes. Thinking about it made Gio’s nose ache and his knuckles get itchy. Then she continued:

 

“But you don’t tell the boys anything. _You rather fix your problems yourself because why should they worry, because you’ve always fixed your problems yourself_."

 

Gio really looked at her face and gulped down. Yeah, she was so on point. This was basically a description of him and he couldn’t have an objection. He never wanted anyone to worry; worrying was his job. He stayed quiet and nodded approving Ele’s statements.

 

She ran a hand through her hair:

 

“I’m like you. I never let anybody took care of me. But if there’s anything I learned last spring it’s that everybody, even the mom friends, need somebody to take care of them. _You can’t deal with everything on your own no matter how much you think you can.”_

 

Gio looked down again and let out a shaky breath. _If only this was as easy to accept as she said it._

 

She reached and slightly bumped him in the arm:

 

“And trust me just because you open up doesn’t mean you stop being the…”

 

Gio raised his head again with the faintest smile:

 

“…mom friend.” he completed.

 

Ele smiled back:

 

“Exactly!” she said.

 

Gio scratched his head one more time:

 

“Thank you, Ele.” he said.

 

He meant it. _The fact that somebody like Ele that knew him personally but didn't really know him was trying to help was nice_. Also because they had this distance it was easier for Gio to listen and agree. It was not like she had a wrong point either. Everything she observed was true for him. All he did practically his all life was to fix his own shit. After Marco was diagnosed with asthma he stopped telling his problems at home. He wouldn’t even ask for help from Marti when they were little kids or from Elia when they were in middle school.  He felt like he was understood by Eleonora. It was different than understanding between him and Elia because Gio was the “mom friend” to Elia too. 

 

Elia… Luca… Yesterday morning… It all hit his mind at the same time. Did Ele knew about what was going on with him? Did Luca tell the boys? Did Marti told her and Eva?

 

He sighed and grabbed on to his backpack:

 

“Ele, did Mart tell you anything about why I’m like this?”

 

She answered with a little scowl, shaking her head:

 

“No. But it’s not hard to see from the outside that you are struggling.” she pointed at him from top to the bottom. 

 

He nodded, that was a relief:

 

“So yesterday morning…?” yet he still wondered more.

 

She shook her head again:

 

“Eva was worried about you. Marti too. He told all about your messy clothes and how you were smoking weed again.” she raised her eyebrows in a judgmental way and Gio looked away. “They were just guessing it was school work related.”

 

Last week he thought Marti wasn’t realizing the mess Gio looked like. Guess he was wrong. He wasn’t just letting Gio know about it. He couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit happy over the fact that he noticed.

 

Gio nodded again:

 

“Yeah.” he mumbled.

 

It looked like if Luca told the boys what happened at least Marti didn’t tell it to Eva or the girls. He thought whether Eva and Marti had talked later and maybe he told her something but then he guessed Ele would know because Eva would have told her. He took a deep breath. Well, at least not everybody knew what he was up to. Maybe Luca kept it to himself too.

 

“I didn’t tell them about when Edo and Filo saw you the other Friday.” Ele said with a little smile and concern on her face.

 

Honestly at this point Gio had forgotten about that Friday but was focusing on the most recent one. Still he gave her a grateful smile:

 

“Thanks.”

 

“You can talk to me too. From one mom friend to the other.” she said with a big smile.

 

Gio thought about that for a second. Eleonora already understood him and perhaps opening up to her could help him. Also, like it was easier to listen to her maybe it could be easier to talk to her too (compared to the boys). He was going to give this a little more thought though.

 

“Thank you, really. It’s nice to know there’s somebody who gets me.” he was still smiling and it was a tiny one but at least it was still there. 

 

She reached in and they shared a small hug. Then they said their goodbyes and went on to the different ends of the corridor.

 

_Mom friend Giovanni Garau, it had a nice ring to it Gio thought._

 

Ele was completely right. Nobody could possibly deal with everything on their own. Like he never wanted any of his friends to go through things alone.

 

He would be more easily convinced to speak if he hadn’t broke Luchino’s heart. Most of his stress now was coming from that guilt and the fact that he was a bad friend. 

 

There were so many other things for Gio to do before he could consider opening up.

 

* * *

 

**_Mercoledi 14:18-Lean On Me_ **

 

Yesterday’s literature class was again a success for Gio’s 'avoiding the others' plan. He wasn’t as quick to leave the class as he was on Monday so it gave Marti a chance to call out to him but at least none of them were able to stop him.

 

At night as he was studying his mind dwelled on Eleonora’s advice. He didn’t want anyone to worry and he didn’t want them to see him as less of a Gio. So the fact that she said they wouldn’t meant a lot.

 

 _There were two problems. One, it was easier to see her point then to apply it. Two, he didn’t know who to start with._ Obviously, nobody from his family. He never told any of his issues to his mom and dad. Marco was young, Gio couldn’t tell and expect help about this from him. Luca was out too. He still had no idea what to say to him and he didn’t want his image to crumble even more in Luca’s eyes and become weaker. 

 

There was still the question of whether Luca told the boys about the pills and the fight or not. If yes then the boys were out too because he didn’t feel like following that. He didn’t want to be judged but he knew he would be rightly so. Plus, if he was going in for the whole opening up then he would have to open up all the way meaning he would have to talk about his family too. That was a topic he dreaded. 

 

Now, he was walking in the corridor hoping he wouldn’t run into anyone. His hopes were not met. Anyway, it would be a miracle if his avoiding managed to go on for a third day in a row. 

 

The corridor was empty and he was looking directly at Elia. In the ten seconds Gio looked down on his phones as he walked Elia had entered the corridor too. So he really had no window to escape. 

 

Gio gulped and pushed his phone down to his pocket. Elia was looking at him angrily. He took a few steps forwards getting closer to Gio.

 

He raised his hand pointing in between them:

 

“Remember our deal?” 

 

Gio’s heart was beating too fast. He didn’t want to fall out with Elia as well:

 

“Elia-” he said quietly.

 

“OUR DEAL...” Elia said loudly contrasting Gio. “…said that you won’t keep too much to yourself.”

 

Elia took a step back and continued:

 

“But you have been running away from us for the past three days for some reason."

 

‘For some reason.’ Elia didn’t know why Gio was avoiding them. Luca hadn’t told them. Gio felt so relieved at that moment despite the fact that he was in the middle of a possible fight with Elia. 

 

“Since you broke the deal, I’m breaking it too. What the hell is going on?”

 

Gio took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time or place to come clean to Elia. Also considering his anger level Gio didn’t want to talk to him. Yes, it was Elia but it looked like whatever he told the boy he would be yelled at. Suddenly, his mind made a different conclusion then yesterday : maybe Ele wasn’t completely right, maybe some things weren’t meant to be told.

 

“I just needed some alone time.” Gio lied terribly.

 

Elia’s eyes shot through him. He opened his mouth but then closed it while closing his eyes too. Gio felt like Elia held himself like Gio does too, to not let things escalate:

 

“Whatever Gio. Keep running away. You can come to me if you want to talk.”

 

With that he walked past Gio without giving him another look. 

 

Gio took a deep breath. It could’ve been worse he thought. _He was glad that Elia didn’t let this become a fight. He was also glad that while it was passive-aggressive Elia offered him to come and talk at any time Gio feels ready._

 

He was trying to collect his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Gio turned his face around with anticipation and confusion to see Doctor Spera’s face. Just what I needed, Gio thought.

 

“Trouble in paradise?” the man said with a little smirk.

 

Just great. He sighed:

 

“You can say that.”

 

The man moved to the side and Gio turned with his whole body to face him. 

 

“Why are you running away Garau?”

 

He heard the conversation too. Just so great. It wasn’t like Gio didn’t like Doctor Spera. He actually liked him a lot. The man helped Marti so much and he was quite funny too. But right now especially after that whole scene with Elia he didn’t want to hear any more advice.

 

“It’s a combination of a lot of things, sir.” he said backing up and leaning against the wall.

 

Doctor Spera pointed at his own eyes then Gio’s:

 

“I see you haven’t been sleeping.”

 

Gio nodded. He was still sleeping approximately two hours. Between studying all night and stressing in between he didn’t feel like sleeping.

 

The corridor was still mostly empty. There were two-three people chatting at the other end. The man walked at the wall across the one Gio was leaning on and leaned there:

 

“Remember the leaning exercise?”

 

Gio dropped his head to the wall:

 

“Yes.”

 

“Do you remember how you would fall down if you stopped leaning on the other person?”

 

Gio raised his head and quickly nodded:

 

“Marti and Luca were leaning on to each other but they still fell.” He said folding his arms in front of him. 

 

Doctor Spera walked over to Gio and patted him on the shoulder:

 

“But those two fell together, right?”

 

With one last pat he added:

 

“You know where to find me.” he said turned around on his heels and walked away leaving Gio with much to think about.

 

Gio dropped his back to the wall. Just like Eleonora, Doctor Spera was right too. He needed to lean to someone, anyone at this point because he didn’t see a way out of this alone. His grades weren’t improving and he had no idea what to do. After Luca discovered his pills and that fight and the fact they were cursed, he wasn’t going to buy a new one. He didn’t want to become a lawyer and he didn’t know how to say that to his father. He didn’t know how to keep leaving in that house.

 

The “falling together” part comforted him too. Maybe things could get even worse but at least he wouldn’t be trying to come up with solutions on his own. 

 

* * *

 

**_Giovedi 16:00-One By One_ **

 

After putting too much thought into it last night Gio finally decided to talk to someone. He was still thinking about leaving out some details about his father but he was going to come clean meaning he was going to tell about his stresses and the pills. 

 

He still wasn’t sure who he should talk to though. It was either going to be a random person like Eleonora or even maybe Edoardo; or it was going to be one of the boys. If he knew how to start talking to him Luca was the most logical choice because he already knew about some of it. Elia was a strong option mainly because he would know just what to do. Nicco was a strong option too because Gio felt like he could look at things from outside and give good advice. _But call it a childish sentiment or the fact that he has spent almost his entire life with Martino, Gio’s final choice turned out to be him._

 

He had managed to keep avoiding everyone today as well because he didn’t want to have “the talk” in school. Today, in history class he still didn’t sit with the boys but he chose a place closer to them. Also, he didn’t just bail out after class. Elia had left without saying him anything, clearly still being pissed. Marti gave him a shy smile as he exited the class. Eva had just looked at him and turned around. 

 

He was thinking about things to study and do when he gets home. Even though, he’d rather study elsewhere than his bedroom for the past week he had been going straight home. He just didn’t find the energy in him to be outside.

 

Gio kept planning as he walked and thinking about when was a good time to approach Marti or text him. He didn’t even realize it that he was at the school gate. He sighed and turned right only to be stopped by Eva. She had taken a step from the wall and was standing right in front of Gio basically intercepting his path.

 

“Hi.” she said her with her softness all gone and folded arms.

 

She still looked pretty underneath the afternoon sun but her posture and her voice was making Gio nervous. 

 

“Hi.” he said looking over her shoulder.

 

“What’s going on Gio?” she said and unfolded her arms in a movement of frustration.

 

Just when Gio thought he was going to make things better he in the brink of falling out with Eva. Out of all people, Eva. When it piled on, it piled on Gio guessed.

 

He didn’t answer for a few minutes as Eva kept staring at him. _Maybe it was her soul crashing glaze, maybe it was that Gio was so tired or maybe he couldn’t hold it in anymore so something inside him broke._

 

Instead of replying with a simple ‘Nothing.’ and lying, he let out a really shaky breath and said:

 

“Too much is going on.”

 

Eva’s face softened a bit:

 

“Like what?”

 

 _It was that Gio was tired. He was physically and mentally tired._ He was tired because he wasn’t sleeping and he wasn’t eating much. He was tired of keeping things from people. He was tired of hiding in school and avoiding people. He was tired of keeping his real thoughts to himself. He was tired of having to agree with everything his father planned for him. He was tired of not having the courage to stand up. He was tired of not being able to face his feelings. He was tired of fixing his of own shit. So everything inside him broke (which was a first time).

 

He talked with frantic hand movements: 

 

“Everything. I keep getting bad grade after bad grade. I don’t want to study law but I have to. I broke Luca’s heart. He probably hates me now. Elia is pissed-

 

Gio was spiraling down just throwing out everything in his mind to Eva. He would have kept going if she didn’t reach and pulled him to the side saying:

 

“Hey, it’s okay.” with a soft voice and concerned expression. 

 

Gio let out another shaky breath and sulked back to the wall. Eva was standing right next to him, watching him. 

 

“Let’s go one by one okay?”

 

He nodded. Even when they were dating Gio didn’t open up to her much. All she knew was that Gio hated his father’s views and she had met Marco, knew all about the boy. It was weird timing that he was going to open up to her now. Also he was disrupting his own plans about first coming clean to Marti but whatever. 

 

“You know that I’m doing badly in history and literature. Out of everything history and literature.”

 

“Well, I offered you to study with me many times.” she said with a cheeky smile possibly lighten the mood.

 

Gio somehow couldn’t hold himself and he smiled a little too:

 

“I’m a fool for not taking that offer.”

 

They shared a look still smiling. 

 

“Go on.” Eva said bumping him on the arm.

 

The second point involved his family and his mind had gone back to fully working so he kept his explanation ambiguous.

 

“People are pushing me to study law but I don’t want to. I’d rather study something like politics.” he said shrugging.

 

Eva shook her head up and down:

 

“To be honest I don’t see you studying law either.” Then she added, “Go on.”

 

The third point involved the pills and he didn’t want to mention that to Eva. She hated it when he smoked weed when they were together. Then, when he stopped last year she was odd about it around Sophia. Even if he didn’t take a pill he didn’t want to say to her that he bought them. So he kept the point around Luca.

 

“I think the boys don’t know. Luca didn’t tell them. But last Friday we had a little fight. I said something that would break his heart. I don’t know what to say to him now. I never broke any of their hearts before.” he said looking down.

 

Talking about it made his guilt grew. 

 

They stayed silent for a minute before Eva said:

 

“We are going to study together from now on and see if you can improve that way.” she paused and looked at Gio.

 

Gio nodded. She continued:

 

“You are trying not to have a conflict by agreeing to study law. But in the long run this would make you more miserable. So you are going to have to say something there.”

 

Gio nodded again. She continued again:

 

“I don’t think anything you said to him could end your friendship. No matter what they would forgive you. Didn’t you do the same with Marti? You just have to apologize.”

 

She smiled at the end. Gio nodded and said:

 

“Were you this wise two years ago too?”

 

She shook her head and pushed him from the side:

 

“Is that thank you Giovanni Garau?”

 

He smiled his biggest smile for the past two weeks, it was even reaching his eyes:

 

“Thank you.”

 

She smiled at him while playing with her hair. Gio missed playing with her hair so much too but that was for another time. 

 

“By the way, you are going to have to stop smoking weed again.” she said pointing at Gio. She said it in a playful manner but Gio knew she was serious. Then she added, “Do I have to call Sophia for that?”

 

Gio raised his hand to a soldier salute:

 

“Whatever you say Ms.Brighi.” he lowered his hand, “I didn’t stop smoking for her. It was because of a lot of things but mostly learning from past experiences.” he said with a twinkle in his eyes referencing to their relationship.

 

She smiled brightly as a response.

 

This opening up and talking that came out of nowhere helped him a lot. He was grateful to Eva for everything she said. True, he didn’t actually tell everything to her but at least he gave out the main points. Now, he was feeling like some weight had lifted off of him. Also, the one by one technique was good. _When she took his interconnected problems apart they seemed more solvable._ Maybe, studying with her could help. It was definitely a better plan than taking pills anyway. He didn’t know how to say something to his father but she was right there; it could make him unhappy the rest of his life. He hoped she was right about Luca that he could forgive Gio with an apology. 

 

He felt like he could breath again as he stood there. Like Ele said he couldn’t solve things on his own. Like Doctor Spera said he needed to lean on someone. He was glad that it was Eva.

 

* * *

 

**_Venerdi 20:18-No Going Back_ **

 

 

Gio was in a family dinner at the kitchen table. He was sitting across his father in the square table with his brother on his left side and his mother on his right side, near to the door. 

 

Nobody was talking too much except Marco occasionally telling something about his school. Gio was just trying to eat as fast as possible so that he could get out of there. He didn’t like spending any more time than he has to in the same room as his father, especially after Gio calling him a fascist and that almost hitting.

 

In the back of his mind was Eva’s words about how he had to say something about not wanting to study law but he tried to push the thought away. It wasn’t the time with everything else going on with the boys. He needed to solve that first.

 

It had been a solid silence of ten minutes when his father turned to Marco and asked:

 

“Did your teacher say anything about that refugees homework?”

 

Gio took a sip of his water trying to push down his thoughts. Marco looked over at him then to their father and replied:

 

“Yeah, he liked it.”

 

“Good job.” their father replied with a smile.

 

Marco gave Gio another look and Gio just blinked saying he didn’t need to say anything more. So Marco didn’t say that he changed what he wrote after his talk with Gio. Unfortunately, the topic wasn’t over for Fabio Garau:

 

“Did you make Gio read it?” he asked looking between his two sons.

 

Marco turned to Gio again and Gio saw the panic in the boy's eyes so he stepped in:

 

“Yeah. I saw it.”

 

His father raised his fork at him:

 

“What did you think about it?”

 

He thought hard for a few seconds. As far as his father knew Marco handed in the one that he dictated to the boy. So if he said yes he would be siding with his father and this conversation would be over. If he said no he would be speaking against him and the conversation would go on. Then, the second side became dominant _. Remember, he was tired of not having the courage to stand up._ He had stood up one time before which was only a sentence but he had never objected to his father’s remarks directly nor to his plans for Gio’s future. Normally, he was avoiding a fight for Marco’s sake because he was worried about his brother getting another asthma attack. _But in the split second he made the decision he realized how much of a good big brother he could be if he didn’t set up an example by saying what he believed in._  So, he thought what the hell and said:

 

“I didn’t like it.”

 

Marco snapped his head at him with wide eyes. The boy didn’t expect that. 

 

“Why is that?” his father said in a calm manner unlike his nature.

 

Gio put down his fork and looked at his father:

 

“Because I think it was forgetting the fact that refugees are human too. Like you and like me.”

 

His father shook his head with angry expression looking around.

 

“They are nothing like you and me.”

 

That’s when their mother stepped in to change the topic. Gio knew she thought the same things as him but she just didn’t vocalize them as much as him. She looked at Gio:

 

“I saw Martino’s mother today. I didn’t know he had moved out of the house.”

 

Gio was still looking at his father and his father was looking at him. It was like a staring competition. So this time Marco answered instead of him:

 

“He is living with his boyfriend, right Gio?” the boy was trying to get Gio’s attention to somewhere else and it had worked. 

 

Gio turned to his mother:

 

“Yeah, they moved in together during summer.”

 

His father scoffed and Gio tried so hard not to read into it. He turned back to his food and started to play with them. His mother did the same and his brother too. But his father couldn’t help but talk:

 

“And is his mother okay with that?”

 

Gio still tried not reading into it. So he shoved a piece of food into his mouth while his mother answered:

 

“I think they are too young to move in too.”

 

Gio was feeling Marco’s eyes on him as they ate probably measuring his reaction. 

 

“No, I mean the fact that he moved in with his boyfriend.”

 

Yeah, Gio was reading into it the way it is. His father literally said ‘boyfriend’ like it was a bad thing. The moment the sentence was over he dropped his fork down. _The fact that what always got to him was his father messing with his friends was telling much of Gio._ He looked directly to his father:

 

“And what’s wrong with that? Is it that he has a boyfriend?” Gio said making air quotes as he said the word ‘boyfriend’.

 

Fabio Garau leaned back on his chair and pointed at Gio with his hands this time:

 

“I guess you think that’s normal.”

 

Gio paralleling him leaned back on his own chair:

 

“I guess you think it’s not.”

 

His mother was watching them talk and Marco was looking directly at Gio, probably worrying about him. 

 

“Of course. It’s against the idea of the family.”

 

Gio looked firmly at him:

 

“Traditional family.” he corrected. 

 

His father laughed angrily:

 

“You are spending too much time with those…” he paused there shaking his head.

 

Gio’s leg was shaking from anger. He put his hand down over it to get himself to calm down. He most definitely wasn’t reading into it. 

 

“Are you going to finish that sentence?”

 

A death silence took over the table. Marco was locked to their dad waiting for him to say something. Gio was still trying to get rid of his anger. His mother must have anticipated what was going to happen because she stepped in again to stop her husband from saying something more:

 

“Fabio.” she said in a warning tone. 

 

His father looked at his wife then back to Gio, of course he didn’t listen:

 

“I’ll finish that sentence. With those f***. I can’t believe my son thinks that is normal.”

 

Gio would love to say he couldn’t believe what his father was saying but he could believe that. Honestly, he was surprised this didn’t come up before. Gio never told them about Marti and Marti & Nicco. But his family knew Marti’s family and they had other common acquaintances so they found out. Gio’s anger was going of the rooftop now. He wasn’t going to bite his cheek about this not when he fought total strangers over the use of that word just months ago. He pushed his chair back getting ready to stand up:

 

“Just you know I punched the last person who called Marti that word.”

 

That sentence basically meant Gio would punch his father if necessary. Safe to say that got said father real mad. He got all red and stood up up:

 

“So you are going to hit me?!”

 

Gio stood up too and laughed by himself:

 

“Nothing you didn’t consider doing to me.”

 

Before his father had a chance to reply his mother said from where she was sitting:

 

“Fabio.” she looked at him. “Gio.” she looked at Gio. She said both of them in the same warning note. 

 

Gio had completely stopped holding anything back. There was no going back at this point either. _He wasn't going to suddenly stop talking back not when he came this far; not when his father was going after Marti._

 

He turned to his mother:

 

“What mom? Wasn’t he going to hit me just because I said something back for the first time in my life=? Why should I shut up now when he is disrespecting my best friend?”

 

His father took a step towards to him from the left side. He practically yelled:

 

“So your solution is to disrespect your father.”

 

Gio got himself ready for an answer when Marco stood up:

 

“I agree with him. It’s completely normal. You can’t call Marti that. Actually, you can’t call anyone that.”

 

 _In the midst of his anger Gio looked at his brother with such proudness._ The little boy was braver than him standing up to his father, pointing out his wrongs at that age. But actually it would have been out of character if Marco didn’t do this. Martino was basically like a second brother to the boy. 

 

“So you brainwashed your brother too?” his father asked pointing to the two boys.

 

Gio pulled Marco aside, taking the boy away from in between them before things got more heated:

 

“He can think for himself and he has much more respect for people than you do.”

 

And there it was the slap followed by two loud gasps from his mother and his brother. If you asked to his father Gio had deserved it. 

 

Gio didn’t want to leave Marco there but he knew that his father wouldn’t do anything to him. No matter what he didn’t find in himself the power to stand there one more minute. It wasn’t easy for a boy to get over his father hitting him. His eyes were already getting watery. Also, if he stayed a minute more he would say so many more things and maybe actually hit him back for everything he said about Marti.

 

He walked to the kitchen door. He gulped and took a look around the room. First to his father, then to his father, then to Marco. He gave Marco a look with his head tilted to the side basically meaning ‘I am sorry.’ Marco looked back at him and shook his head up and down basically meaning ‘It is okay.’ 

 

“Just so you know, I’m not going to study law.” he said looking at his father one last time.

 

He turned around and walked through the corridor to the door. He grabbed his jean jacket on his way out and shut the door behind him, loudly.

 

When he got to the street he felt so many emotions at the same time. _Anger to his father, sadness for Marco, hurt by the fact that he got slapped by his father, happiness that he finally spoke up all the way._

 

He looked out into the dark street not knowing where to go and what to do. He took a deep breath and started walking.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!!!
> 
> Please send me your feedbacks, I'm curious!!! (you can send to my tumblr too: youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com)
> 
> Hell episodes are over don't worry (I loved writing them though).
> 
> Also I love this little bond I wrote with Gio and Ele!!


	7. Episode 7 : Falling Into Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii! i know it's a little delayed sorry about that... this just turned out to be a longer chapter then i planned and i didn't have much time to write.
> 
> but i really really loved this chapter hope you'll like it too! 
> 
> ps: things are getting better!

**_Venerdi 00:40-Breaking Down_ **

 

Gio was lying on the couch in Bracciano with his eyes closed, trying to sleep. 

 

After wandering a bit around the streets he realized he could not spend the whole night outside. Normally, he would crash at Marti and Nicco’s but at that point he didn’t feel like facing them. They were going to ask what was going on and Gio didn’t want to tell Marti that he fought with his father over him. Elia was still pissed at him so Gio didn’t want to knock his door, not yet. He needed to apologize to Luca before he could go over there. He briefly considered going over to Eva’s but at some point he opened his Instagram and saw that she was out with the girls. So, he didn’t feel like pulling her down. There was even a split second where he considered Edoardo but he might not be back in Rome and Gio didn’t want to take his chances.

 

Then, it struck to him. Bracciano was what about an hour away and he could catch one of the late busses to go up there. He had enough money in his pocket for a single bus ride. Plus, he knew where the spare key was kept. This way he could rest some without explaining himself.

 

He got on the first bus he found. On the way, he basically passed out from tiredness and the high of standing up to his father. Now, he had nothing better to do and he didn’t want to think anymore so he decided to go to sleep.

 

A day before Gio had decided to go and talk to Martino and he knew deep down that this moment would be the perfect opportunity. Aside from not wanting to tell Marti the reason of the fight he had with his dad also he started to hesitate on his decision. Despite the advice he got from Eleonora and Doctor Spera; despite how relieved he felt even when he half opened up to Eva he started to think. That maybe if he was able to stand up to his father on his own he could deal with every other shit on his own too, in time. So yeah Gio was almost back to keeping everything to himself. 

 

He sighed and turned around in the couch. Then, he heard a faint knock. At this hour nobody would be coming that’s why he mainly chose this place so he thought it was the wind or something. Then he heard another and another one. The knocks were getting quicker and harsher. 

 

He was kind of scared as he got up from the couch. He slowly walked over to the door. For the next few seconds he stood there with a scowl and his mouth open staring at Marti, Elia, Luca and Nicco through the glass door. Then, he reached do the door knob and turned it carefully opening the door.  

 

Luca was the first one to step inside and he basically threw himself to Gio hugging him tight. Gio still kept his confused expression as he hugged the boy back. The others got inside too and Nicco closed the door behind him. Marti, Nicco and Elia walked past the counter and the table walking over to the open area between the couches. 

 

When Luca finally let go of Gio, he took a step back and Gio saw that he was on the verge of tears. They walked over to the others with Luca going to stand beside the other three leaving Gio to face the boys. Luca wiped his eyes with the back of his hand:

 

“I was so worried!” he cried out.

 

Gio was still confused. How were they here? He kept staring:

 

“You-What are you doing here?”

 

“We were looking for you.” Marti said in a quiet voice glaring at him. He looked so concerned with his furrowed eyebrows.

 

Gio looked at each boys’ faces and opened his hands:

 

“Why?”

 

Elia took a step towards him:

 

“WHY?” he said shouting.

 

Marti reached at Elia who was standing a few steps before the others and touched his shoulder:

 

“Elia…” he said probably trying to get him to calm down. 

 

But Elia pushed off Marti’s hand and turned to him:

 

“He’s gonna hear this.” 

 

Then, he turned back to Gio:

 

“Do you know we called you like a hundred times for the past four hours? We looked everywhere, EVERYWHERE trying to find you!”

 

Gio was no longer confused but he was still lost on why they were looking for him. Normally, he would have put two and two  together and understand what was happening but his brain was too tired for that. Also he was quite taken aback by Elia’s reaction. Gio knew he was pissed but the boy was literally shouting at him right now with his face all red. He didn’t know what he did new to cause so much anger in Elia. 

 

He asked shuffling in his place:

 

“Why?”

 

Elia rolled his eyes so hard and scoffed:

 

“I don’t know maybe because Marco called all of us worried sick about you. Your mom called…” he turned to point at Martino, “…him nervously asking if he knows where you are.”

 

Gio gulped and looked down. He didn’t expect this: Marco and his mom calling the boys. Honestly, he was sad that he made Marco worried (it even gave him some guilt) but he was still mad at her mother for all the times she didn’t back him up against his father. 

 

“CARE TO EXPLAIN?” Elia shouted and this time Nicco put a hand on his shoulder.

 

Then, Nicco took two steps and stood next to Elia:

 

“What’s going on Gio?” he said in a soft voice completely opposite of Elia.

 

Gio ignored that question both consciously and unconsciously. He didn’t want to explain and his mind dwelled on how the hell they knew he was at Bracciano.

 

He pulled on his sleeves and rubbed his forehead:

 

“How did you know I was here?” he asked looking around avoiding perfectly staring at either one of them. 

 

Elia took one step further getting closer to Gio despite Nicco trying to hold him back:

 

 _“BECAUSE WE FUCKING KNOW YOU!”_ he shouted at the top of his lungs.

 

Before he could continue Marti intercepted both trying to calm the atmosphere and to give an explanation:

 

“We thought of everywhere you could have gone. We checked each one. We called Eva, the girls, Edoardo basically everybody. Then it hit to me that you could have come here and we hopped to the car.” 

 

Not a good move on Gio’s part causing a Rome wide panic and search party. Another thing to add to the guilt pile. They even called Eva and what Edoardo too? Gio literally created chaos. What was Eva going to think? He didn’t know what to answer to the boys at this point. His mind stopped working making it impossible for him to come up with an excuse. So he opted to stay silent a little part of him hoping they would stop asking. Unfortunately it did the opposite effect, especially for Elia.

 

“OKAY DON’T ANSWER! I CAN SHOUT AT YOU ALL NIGHT!” Elia turned and showed Luca whose shoulders were sulking down, “LUCA RAN THROUGH THE STREETS!” he showed Nicco, “NICCO LEFT A DINNER WITH HIS FAMILY.” Then he looked back at Gio, “NOW DO YOU WANT TO SAY SOMETHING?”

 

Gio looked at the boys standing in front of him. Marti and Nicco were trying to get Elia to stop shouting. Luca looked like he was five seconds away from full on crying. Marti’s face was all pale and he had the same sulked down posture. Nicco had the most worried face ever with his eyebrows knitted and lips pursed. Elia was the most angry Gio had ever seen him but Gio saw that he was blinking away the tears too. Gio suddenly realized all the pain and worry he cause around himself. _He felt his chest tighten and the drowning feeling come again. He never wanted to put them in a situation half as this but now they were doing everything that was Gio’s job_. His eyes watered and he finally full-on broke:

 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? THAT I HATE MY DAD! THAT HE IS FUCKING FASCIST. THAT HE TRIED TO HIT ME ONCE AND BECAUSE OF ME MARCO HAD AN ATTACK.” He paused and took a deep breath shaking his hands frantically, “THAT I HAVEN’T BEEN SLEEPING. THAT I-I BOUGHT PILLS BUT COULDN’T GET MYSELF TO TAKE ONE.” he hit on his chest with his hands. "THAT I BROKE LUCA’S HEART. THAT MY FATHER  MANAGED TO SLAP ME TODAY AND I JUST LEFT THE HOUSE WITH NOWHERE TO GO.” 

 

He closed his eyes for a second, “IS THAT ENOUGH?”

 

Gio had shouted all of these without giving the others a chance to say something. When he was done he was panting wildly. He saw all the boys looking at him with wide eyes probably they couldn’t believe the scene before them. Gio yelling this much, telling this much about himself, losing himself… All of these were a first time. They looked unsure of what to do.

 

As Gio tried to catch his breath for the next few seconds Marti walked up to him sweeping past Elia and Nicco. Marti threw his arms around Gio and hugged him tight. Gio hugged him back and let a few of his tears fall on Marti’s shirt. When they broke apart he saw the other boys looking at them with tears in their eyes too.

 

Marti pulled him on the arm and led him to the couch on the left side. He made Gio sit and he sat next to him. Seeing them sit Nicco and Luca sat on the armchairs while Elia motioned them that he is pulling a chair from the table. 

 

After everyone was sat down they stayed silent. Gio was shocked at himself for that blowing up. He never planned to say all of those but they came out of his mouth and he couldn’t stop himself. Now, he didn’t know how to follow them. He put his hands under his chin and looked down. 

 

“I texted your mother and Marco to let them know we found you.” said Marti and Gio didn’t reply.

 

Elia leaned back in his chair and pinched his nose:

 

“Fuck Gio… You had all of us to go. Why didn’t you come over to me?”

 

Gio answered looking down:

 

“You were pissed at me.” he mumbled.

 

Gio took a glance at Elia and he literally felt the other boy give himself a mental slap over that. 

 

“I was pissed-I am pissed because I was worried about you. I thought you would come anyway.” his voice was soft now even softer than Nicco before.

 

Gio didn’t answer but Luca answered for him:

 

_“When has he ever came to us?”_

 

Gio raised his head to look at him to understand where he was leading with this. Luca possibly took this as Gio being offended so he further spoke:

 

“I mean it’s Gio. I never heard him talk about a problem of his. Most he told was like some problems with Eva and Sophia.”

 

Well, Gio always thought the boys would not notice that. If he didn’t seem sad or didn’t seem to have issues they wouldn’t worry about him, right? Not right. He realized he doubted his friends’ care too much. Then suddenly he remembered everything that happened with Luca last week and didn’t understand why the boy was this nice. 

 

“Aren’t you mad at me?” Gio asked looking at him making the other boys wonder.

 

Luca shook his head from side to side:

 

“Of course not!” A pause then, “I was just shocked and sad and mostly worried about you for the…” he trailed off in the end trying to keep the secrecy even though Gio blasted it out five minutes ago. Gio loved him more for that.

 

“Speaking of that. Gio do you want to talk about everything you just said? Especially the part about the pills and your dad?” Nicco asked and Gio felt he was trying to be as delicate as possible giving Gio a chance to decline.

 

Gio raised his head and saw the four faces full of worry waiting for him to say something. He knew there was no going back from this now and maybe that was a good thing. He took a deep breath:

 

“You only know that my parents are strict. But strict would not be enough to explain them.” He turned his head to the side to look at Marti, “That’s why I always crushed at your place when we go out. My father…” A pause. “…he isn’t much of an open minded person. He is just a typical fascist.”

 

He left that there and hoped the guys would understand what he meant. He didn’t want to tell them how much of a racist his father was or how much of a homophobic he was (not in front of Nicco and Marti).

 

The boys shook their heads giving Gio his own pace and choice.

 

Gio bit inside his cheek:

 

“I’ve never said anything to him. Not even when he was being a piece of shit. I-I let him influence Marco too. The first time I said anything…” he gave out a breath, “…he got mad and he was going to slap me then Marco saw it because of that he didn’t hit me and Marco had an attack and it was all because of me and I-

 

Gio was rambling and rambling spiraling in repressed guilt and the memory of that night. Marti put a hand on his shoulder and it pulled him back to reality. He took a deep breath as Marti said:

 

“Gio, you know that wasn’t because of you. You have no fault in that story. Your father almost hit you and Marco has attacks without reason.”

 

Gio looked at him and nodded silently thanking him.

 

“My mom and dad want me to study law at the best universities of Italy.”

 

Gio didn’t see it but he knew Marti just shot Nicco and especially Elia a look that meant ‘I told you so.’

 

“I don’t want it but I never had the guts to say them. So I’ve been beating myself up about the classes and the grades. I’ve never had grades this low. You guys know too.” 

 

He looked at them for some reason for approval and all the boys nodded. 

 

Elia gulped in front of him trying to avert his eyes which Gio didn’t understand because really Gio should be the one to avert his eyes:

 

“Is that why you got the pills?” Elia asked.

 

Gio looked away too and nodded:

 

“I-I didn’t take any of it. I swear.” he said mostly facing Luca.

 

“I believe you.” Luca said to him with a tint of smile.

 

“Did you get it that Friday that we had Nicco’s school tour?”

 

Gio nodded as a reply. He was impressed at how Elia was able to pinpoint the exact time but Gio knew he was acting suspicious enough lately for Elia to guess. Gio sighed now:

 

“I know it was a stupid decision. I was just so stressed.” he let out a deep breath, "I thought it could help me focus and I could study for longer hours. But I was too scared to take one.”

 

“It was indeed a stupid decision Gio.” Nicco said and Gio looked down again.

 

Then, suddenly Elia got up and stood in front of Gio:

 

“Do you have any weed on you?”

 

Gio had no chance but to look up:

 

“No.”

 

Elia didn’t move just stared at Gio:

 

“You need to stop smoking again. For good this time.”

 

“I did. Eva said the same thing so I throw everything away yesterday.”

 

Elia looked convinced for the first time in like three weeks. He nodded and walked back to his chair.

 

“You talked to Eva?” asked Marti.

 

Gio ran a hand through his hair:

 

“Kind of. I only told her about the bad grades and not wanting to study law. Also, about the fight I had with Luca.” he got quieter through the end. Despite Luca saying he wasn’t mad Gio was feeling bad about it.

 

Before any of the other boys could ask him to elaborate Luca explained:

 

“It wasn’t a fight. I saw the pills. Gio got defensive and that’s it.”

 

Well, that was a gross simplification of events but Gio was grateful that Luca cut it short. He didn’t feel like telling the boys how much of an asshole he was to Luca. He looked at him and nodded again thanking him.

 

After a few seconds of silence Marti asked:

 

“What happened today?”

 

Gio was definitely not going to tell them about the second part of the fight. It wasn’t to hide something, he was opening up, but it was just to protect Marti and Nicco’s feelings. So he said:

 

“I contradicted him with some political issues then it got bigger. Marco stepped in somewhere. Then, he slapped me.”

 

When he told it like that it all seemed so easy to Gio but it wasn’t. He looked up and saw the sadness for him in the boy’s eyes. Elia was clenching his jaw most likely he was mad at Gio’s father. He looked over at Marti and saw that the boy was mad like Elia with his fist clenched.

 

For the next two minutes nobody said anything. They were probably out of questions to ask and Gio was out of stories to tell. After a while now that he had calmed down the “mom friend” side of Gio kicked:

 

“Look, I never wanted to upset you guys. I always tried to do the opposite. I mean I’m used to dealing with these on my own. These weren’t the first time I was stressed over classes nor the first time I was drowning in guilt nor the first time I had problems with my parents. I thought I could do the same again but guess everything piled on. I have been lying to you a lot lately. I’m sorry.”

 

He shrugged waiting for an answer from the boys.

 

He heard Marti sigh next to him:

 

“That’s on us.” he said.

 

Gio, back to his confused his state, turned on the couch to face Martino:

 

“What?”

 

Marti sighed again:

 

“I’m used to you dealing with you everything on your own too. I knew you didn’t want to study law and I noticed you not sleeping but I didn’t think there was this whole story behind it. I was worried yet I didn’t even offered you to talk for the past weeks.”

 

This wasn’t where Gio thought the conversation would. Sure, he obsessed a little over the boys not pointing out directly the mess he was in but he wasn’t expecting this revelation. 

 

“How could you know? I didn’t know what was happening with you last year.”

 

Marti patted Gio on the shoulder:

 

“Yeah, but you approached me and offered me to talk so many times.”

 

Nicco sighed and shook his head:

 

“You always come to help me dropping everything. I don’t even question how you are doing.” 

 

This was turning out to be a guilt fest for the boys. 

 

Gio raised his hands in front of him to get everyone to stop:

 

“These are all because I wanted it that way. I didn’t want you to get worried. Period. So I put on acts. You couldn’t have known, okay?”

 

 _There he went trying to comfort the others again. He always tried to comfort the others even when he was in need of comfort too_. That was the dictionary meaning of selflessness. He didn’t show his pain about Eva cheating on him to Martino because his father had left and Gio needed to support him. Four years ago after a big fight with his parents he was almost going to tell it to Elia but Elia had a similar problem at home so Gio helped him. It went on like that.

 

“Just next time you run away here let us know and make a weekend out of it.” Luca said with the first smile of the night. 

 

Gio didn’t smile but at least the troubling look on his face was gone:

 

“Okay.” he said.

 

Then Marti hugged him from the side. Two seconds later Nicco got up and joined the hug from the other side. Then, Luca threw himself over them causing a few grunts. Lastly, Elia approached and joined the group hug.

 

Gio knew things were far away from being solved. He didn’t know how he would return back home, he didn’t know he was going to raise his grades to study what he wants, Elia was acting a bit weird almost guilty, he still needed to apologize to Luca and a long talk with Marti was on the way. But for the first time in weeks and probably in his life he felt relieved. _Relieved that he didn’t need to bust his head off to fix everything alone._

 

* * *

 

 

**_Sabato 14:20-Apologies_ **

 

Gio was sitting outside on the balcony with Marti and Nicco. They were chatting about an American comedy show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which they all loved. The couple kept on starting other topics about tv shows and movies trying get Gio’s mind off of things and Gio was thankful for that. Elia was cooking lunch and had taken Luca as his apprentice. 

 

A while later Luca came over at them saying he was going to collect some branches to put to the fireplace. The boys didn’t come prepared and even though there were some blankets left there their clothes weren’t the thickest. Marti and Nicco got up to help him and Gio went inside saying he was going to check up on Elia and make sure he wasn’t burning the kitchen down. 

 

He entered inside and walked over to Elia who was standing in front of the stove mixing the pot. Gio leaned on to the counter on the right side:

 

“What are you making?”

 

Elia kept mixing but turned to Gio:

 

“Pasta.”

 

Gio smirked a little:

 

“Very Italian of you.”

 

Elia smirked too rolling his eyes. 

 

“What’s that I’m smelling?” Gio asked.

 

Elia look at the smaller pot and mixed it a little too:

 

“A new sauce I learned.”

 

He took a spoon and got some sauce in it. Then he moved the spoon to Gio and made him taste. 

 

“Hmmm. So good.” Gio said licking his lips. “Did you make it for your parents yet?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

 

Elia was an only child and sometimes his father would go on work trips and his mother would spend the whole day at church or some church related activity. So he had learned to make his own meals over the years. He would help her mother cook for the church too. Gio knew that and was referencing that. 

 

Elia pointed the spoon at him:

 

“Oh, no. This weekend is about you.”

 

Gio smirked and shrugged as he watched Elia do his magic. About five minutes later Elia turned down the stove a bit and went to lean on the counter against Gio.

 

“I’m sorry.” Elia said. 

 

Gio straightened a little giving all his attention to Elia:

 

“About?”

 

“When you told me you wanted to study law I just accepted it. I accepted everything. I should have pushed you more.” He turned his face to the balcony then back to Gio, “It was different with us. I was supposed to read you but turns out I wasn’t good at it.” 

 

_How did he manage to make all of his friends feel like bad friends was still a mystery to Gio. That wasn’t true. They were great friends. The ones Gio had no idea what he would do without._

 

“Or I was good at faking it.” Gio tried to correct him

 

Elia shook his head firmly:

 

“You were almost into drugs Gio. I didn’t even realize.” he sighed, “And I pushed you away.”

 

“Elia- “ Gio tried to protest, he wasn’t going to let Elia beat himself up over Gio’s incapability for asking for help, but Elia didn’t let him.

 

“Gio, don’t okay?” he shook his hand. "We deserve to feel bad about this. Maybe we couldn’t have known this time but it’s not like we ever asked you how you were either. The most I did was to pay for your coffee. Even then I never asked you if you were having money problems at home.”

 

“You knew I didn’t want you to ask.” 

 

That was literally Giovanni’s rule from the day one of their friendship and Gio knew Elia did his best considering the rule.

 

“Yeah but you ask even if we don’t want to talk. You never get mad either.”

 

Gio let out a breath and closed his eyes:

 

“There’s no way I can convince you that you were actually an amazing friend, right?”

 

Elia silently nodded then moved to completely turn the stove off. Then he walked right across Gio:

 

“I’ll try to be more like you from now on.”

 

If that didn’t make Gio so happy he might have cried. After his fight with Luca he had spent the past week thinking that he was a bad friend. Hearing this it just let him breath. He reached in to hug Elia and Elia hugged him back.

 

“And I’ll try to ask for help more often.” Gio said.

 

Elia took a step back:

 

“Are you going to keep asking for money from your parents?”

 

Gio had been thinking about that. He didn’t want to live in that house let alone take their money. The only problem was that he didn’t want to leave Marco there. Somehow though, he knew they would never be as bad to him. He stayed silent choosing not to answer. So even if he kept living at the house he would no way ask for anything from his father and he felt more or less the same about his mother.

 

“I take that as a no. I put some money into your jacket last night.” Elia said

 

Gio opened his mouth to object but Elia beat him up to it:

 

“That is asking for help.” 

 

Gio just smiled to himse _lf. No matter what Elia thought of himself he was one of the best damn friends._ He reached and gave Elia a pat on the shoulder:

 

“Thank you.”

 

At that moment Elia’s phone rang. It was standing on the counter and Elia glanced at the screen. He grabbed it and said:

 

“Now, go fetch the others.” as he made his way inside to talk. Gio thought all the secrecy of Elia was kind of weird and added that to his mental list.

 

Just as Gio was at the door the boys were entering the house. He told Nicco and Marti that the lunch was ready and walked on to the balcony. Luca was still standing there shooting some pics. The boy looked over his shoulder and spotted Gio:

 

“I’m gonna send these to Silvia. It looks great.” he said with a smile.

 

Gio couldn’t return the same enthusiasm..He had to apologize to Luca and he had put that off so long. He should have apologized last Saturday, the day after their fight. It didn’t matter if Luca was okay with him he still needed to do the apology. 

 

“Luca.” Gio said which made Luca turn around. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I was just trying to cover up and like you said I got defensive. I never meant to hurt you.”

 

Luca kept his bright smile:

 

“I know.” A second later he let the smile fall down a bit, “I knew you didn’t mean it but I never thought you would explode like that. Or buy pills to study.”

 

Gio gulped and looked down. He had truly disappointed Luca. The other boy probably recognizing Gio’s mood explained himself:

 

“But that’s about me. I just thought you could never do any wrong. That wasn’t fair to you because everybody can do wrong.”

 

Gio raised his head and smiled faintly at how wise Luca was sounding. Luca saw his smile and bumped him on the arm a little:

 

“You can always talk to me too.” 

 

Gio smiled and bumped him back. _See, he had the most amazing and supportive friends_. He couldn’t believe how mature Luca was about this. So mature that he wasn’t mad at Gio but reflected upon himself. That was something even above Gio. 

 

“Come on, I’m hungry.” Luca rushed inside, “I hope everything we bought from that grocery was good.” 

 

Things were slowly getting better. 

 

* * *

 

**_Domenica 09:12-For Future Reference_ **

 

Gio had woken up early, before the boys so now he was preparing breakfast for them. It was his way of saying thank you for the whole weekend. He could never cook as good as Elia but he was trying. 

 

It was not like he couldn’t sleep. He slept like a baby actually but he just woke up early maybe from all the relief he had been experiencing. He had offered the bed to Nicco and Marti again but they insisted on not taking it. There were a lot of arguments over it but eventually it was decided that all of them would be sleeping in the bedroom. Gio, Elia and Luca were up on the bed while Marti and Nicco made themselves a bed from the pillows on the floor. Gio laughed at how much it resembled Marti sleeping on the floor in their sleepovers. Gio was glad that Marti wasn’t sleeping on the floor alone anymore.

 

By some miracle Gio had managed to leave the room without waking anyone else. Now he was making some toast. Later he was going to try to do a cheese omlette but he was kind of failing at that. 

 

As he was checking the toasts on the 20 year old toaster he heard the foot steps. He turned around to see Marti who was rubbing his eyes. 

 

“Good morning.” Gio said.

 

“Good morning.” Marti said as he walked over to Gio, “Did you make coffee?”

 

“Of course.” Gio said with a smile and pointed his own mug.

 

Marti grabbed a mug too and poured himself some coffee:

 

“How is everything in this house still working? They are so old.”

 

Gio laughed:

 

“Honestly, I have no idea.”

 

As Gio broke some egg yolks into a bowl Marti stood there drinking coffee. When Gio was done with the eggs he turned around saw that Marti was watching him. 

 

Martino put his mug down on the counter:

 

“How did I never know about your father, your parents? We’ve know each other basically our whole lives.”

 

Gio decided it wasn’t a good time to continue with his omelette. He needed to have the long waited one-on-one convo with Marti.

 

“They weren’t as bad when I was a kid. I wasn’t going out at night or drinking back then.”

 

“How about when we were in middle school?”

 

Gio had been an expert at lying or hiding things over this. It was the explanation. He had gained the skill of mom friend early on his life and developed his selflessness. 

 

“You were dealing with other things at home with your father coming and going. Also your mom’s episodes.” He paused there and looked carefully at Marti to see if that memory had caused any pain.”My problems were that my father would yell at me and as I’ve figure that he was a fascist. They seemed little compared to yours.”

 

Marti sighed and raised his eyebrows:

 

_“For future reference, no matter what I’m dealing with I always have time for you.”_

 

Gio smiled his brightest smile this weekend. Of course he loved all the boys but Marti was different. They have been friends for 13 years. _Maybe Marti didn’t know everything Gio went through in those. Still, it didn’t mean that Marti didn’t help. Their playdates at the park was a refuge from his house. Their hanging outs at the skateboard park was an escape from his father’s rants._

 

“Noted.” Gio said and turned to put some cheese into the egg yolk bowl. He knew Marti was still watching him as if he wasn’t done. 

 

And Gio was right. Marti said:

 

“Marco told me about the details of the fight. You didn’t have to do that.” 

 

Great. Gio had been dodging questions to keep the specifics to himself ever since Friday. He just didn’t want to make the boys sad or make Marti blame himself over that. If he could shelter Marco and the contrabbandieri from the evils of the world he could. He slowly turned around:

 

“I had to. I fought with strangers coming at you what would it say about me if I didn’t fought with my father too.” 

 

Marti didn’t say anything so Gio continued:

 

“I have stayed quiet to all his bigotry for too long. Then, he came at you and I got the courage. Now, I can say anything to him if he tries to be homophobic, sexist, racist and all around fascist.”

 

Marti rubbed his head:

 

“I don’t know what to say. You always go out of your way to defend me. Saying thank you doesn’t seem enough.” he sighed at the end.

 

“Always.” Gio said and extended his fist to which Marti bumped.

 

Proven to everyone last year Gio would do anything to defend and protect Marti even bashing someone’s face. There was also a moment when he thought about lying to the police to get Marti out of the narrative after the fight but it would complicate things for the others like Edo and Fede so Gio had waived that idea. 

 

“I won’t let you deal with things on your own too. I will pester and pester until you talk, so get ready.”

 

Gio was truly ready for that. _All this that happened reminded him that people were islands but they needed bridges connecting them._ After the mess he was in he realized he was like any of his friends, anybody and just like he expected them to ask for help he needed ask for help too.

 

“I’m so ready.” 

 

They laughed for a few seconds until Marti said:

 

“I’m really proud of you Gio.”

 

It’s been so long since he has heard that. His parents weren’t the ones to say. His grades were always high so people were used to it. Sophia would say it but they were always over little things. He smiled shyly and looked around trying to suppress his sudden emotionality. 

 

“And the Rametta-Fares residence is always open to you.” 

 

Gio’s smile became a more strong one and he walked over to Marti to give him a hug. When they broke apart he turned to his omelette and he managed not to fail, with Marti’s help of course.

 

He was no longer feeling like he had nowhere to go. 

 

* * *

 

**_Lunedi 15:33-Do You Need Anything?_ **  
****

 

After spending Saturday and Sunday in Bracciano the boys came back to Rome on Sunday evening. Gio following Marti’s offer went over to Rametta-Fares residence and spent the night there. Then, in the morning Marti and Gio had gone to school together. Gio borrowed a t-shirt and a shirt from Marti. Technically, the t-shirt belonged to him first but at some point Marti had borrowed and didn’t return. Gio being Gio was wearing the shirt over the t-shirt with its buttons open.

 

Boys didn’t let him sit alone for a second at school. In history class Elia had listened to the teacher so carefully only to be able to help Giovanni later. Gio had laughed and teased for it.

 

Now, he was standing at the gate of Marco’s school. The boys were reluctant to let him go alone but he promised to text and to meet them over at Marti and Nicco’s for dinner. 

 

Gio felt like he owed a big explanation to Marco and he was curious about how the little boy was doing so he decided to go to his brother’s school. He wasn’t yet ready to go home.

 

The moment Marco got out of school and saw Gio he started to run and crashed into Gio hugging him tight. Gio hugged him back feeling emotional again. He ruffled the boy’s hair as they broke apart. 

 

“I’m sorry buddy for just leaving and not calling.”

 

Marco probably from the excitement of seeing Gio was jumping up and down:

 

“It’s okay. Marti called me everyday.”

 

Of course he did, Gio thought and smiled keeping in mind to thank Marti later. They started to walk together. Gio was planning on putting him on the bus, like he normally does in the morning, trying to make up for that morning. 

 

“How are you?” Gio asked.

 

“I’m fine.” A few seconds later he added guessing Gio’s worry, “It wasn’t bad when you were gone. Dad was mad, mom decided to give you space. Mostly, it was a normal weekend.”

 

_Gio knew Marco was trying to reassure him that he was fine but the fact that his family had a normal weekend without after him especially what happened on Friday stung a little._

 

“How are you?” Marco asked looking at him with wide eyes.

 

Gio smiled at him, he was the one to reassure now:

 

“I’m better.” and ruffled the boys hair.

 

Marco nodded:

 

“You did good standing up to dad. He was wrong especially saying all that to Marti.”

 

Some kind of anger passed through Marco’s eyes and Gio swore he saw himself in the boy.

 

“Thanks. You did good too.” Gio said putting a hand on his shoulder.

 

 “Just following your steps.” he shrugged and both of them laughed. 

 

After their laughs were finished off Marco asked:

 

“So what do you want to study?”

 

Gio put his hands into his jean jacket’s pockets:

 

“Politics, I think.”

 

Marco nodded his head approvingly:

 

“Cool.” Then he hit Gio on the arm, “Can you take me to a protest? I always wondered how they were like.”

 

“I have to check up my protest calendar first.” Gio said with a smirk. He was so happy to be back to his old self just joking around and messing with his little brother.

 

Marco hit him on the arm again, harsher this time. Gio laughed:

 

“Just kidding. I’ll find one that I support and we can go.”

 

They had almost reached the bus stop so Marco upon hearing Gio’s last sentence started to skipping up there. When Gio reached him he asked:

 

“Do you need anything?”

 

Marco looked at him with a scowl:

 

“Aren’t you coming home?”

 

Gio sighed. _No matter what he definitely did not like leaving his brother there, leaving his brother anywhere for that matter:_

 

“I need a few more days. Now, do you need anything?”

 

Marco shuffled in his place pulling on his hoodie and Gio knew he wanted to ask for something but he wasn’t able to so he pulled the money Elia gave to him out of his pocket:

 

“Just take this and get whatever you need, okay?”

 

Marco hesitated to take the money but Gio reached it closer and kind of forcibly made him take it. Gio was thinking that Marco probably needed something but his father had dismissed it. Fabio Garau tended to do that. Gio was glad that he was a new Gio now and was getting help so that he got that money from Elia so that he was able to give it to Marco.

 

For five minutes until the bus came Gio and Marco chatted about Spider-Man. When the bus doors opened Marco turned around and gave Gio another hug. Just as he got on the bus Gio asked, cursing himself for not asking it before:

 

“Do you have your medication?”

 

Marco turned around with a smirk:

 

“Always.” he said and got on the bus.

 

Gio watched the bus take off. _He knew Marco would be fine no matter what. The kid was turning out to be much much better than him._ He smiled and got on his way to Marti and Nicco’s.

 

* * *

 

**_Mercoledi 20:25-Hoping and Wishing_ **

 

 

After spending two nights over at the Rametta-Fares residence he finally decided that it was time to go home. Marti and Nicco had told him he could stay more, as long as he wanted really. Elia and Luca offered their own houses if he didn’t want to be a burden to the couple. But Gio had politely declined telling them he was going to be okay. 

 

Yes, Gio had stood up to his father and yes, he would love to get out of the house once he gets into university but he wanted to be with Marco a little while longer and to see maybe things could turn around in the family. _One could hope, right?_ Now that he knew he had the guts to speak and to pursue his own plans he could just hang around in his room. Not like how he locked himself there for the past weeks but in a happier way.

 

He entered the house with his key feeling nervous about what might happen. After dropping the keys he wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. The kitchen light was on and it was their normal dinner time so Gio knew they were eating. He took of his jacket and pushed off his shoes making his way through the corridor to the kitchen. He had the guts but he promised himself not to fight with anyone unless they tempted him. 

 

The moment he entered the room all three heads turned to him. Marco looked at him with a bright smile whiled his food dangled from his fork. His mom immediately got up and gave him a hug. Gio just had to hug her back. His problem with his mom was that she was too much on his father’s side. Not only about the political thoughts but in his eyes his husband was always right and Gio was always wrong. _You expect the opposite from your mother; you expect her to support you and protect you, Gio thought._ At least Marco wasn’t like that.

 

There was already a plate put for him which admittedly made him a little happy. He sat down at the table as his mother served him the food. Before taking his first bite he flashed a smile at Marco’s way. He was avoiding looking at his father as long as he could.

 

After spending half the meal with nobody saying anything his father finally decided to speak:

 

“I’m sorry Gio for the…” he paused there not finishing the sentence. “Won’t happen again.” he added.

 

Gio forced himself, like really forced himself to look at him and just nodded. 

 

Maybe his father was really sorry, maybe it truly won’t happen again but Gio found that hard to believe. He only wished he could believe. _It was a good start though that he was apologizing. Things might not turn around for Gio but perhaps it could turn around for Marco._

 

* * *

 

**_Giovedi 16:08-Falling Into Place_ **  
****

 

Gio exited the school with the boys. They were laughing and jumping around hitting each other jokingly. Gio felt even better then he was six weeks ago. The fact that he was so open with the boys gave him some other kind of happiness he hasn’t felt before. Sure, he still had to go home or he didn’t know what to do about money and his grades were still not skyrocketing but somehow it seemed to him that everything was okay. 

 

The boys agreed to go play table football because they hadn’t been there for two weeks and that was a disgrace to them. If he could make it early out of school even Nicco was going to come. 

 

The moment they stepped outside the gate Gio saw Eva standing on her own staring at her phone. They hadn’t really spoke this week. Not one-on-one at least. She had talked to him to ask how he was doing on Monday when they had history together and in other classes too. They chatted about random stuff with boys still standing with Gio. So now seemed like a good time to approach her. He told the boys he will meet them there motioning to Eva with his head. Starting with Marti then Elia then Luca they all teased him for it. Marti told him to take care of his sister and Gio punched him on the arm.

 

When the boys were kind of out of sight Gio walked over to Eva:

 

“Hi!” he said in a cheerful voice.

 

She put her phone away:

 

“Hi!” she was equally as cheerful. “You look better.” she added.

 

Gio gave her a little smile:

 

“Yeah, getting there.”

 

She leaned back on the wall with a small sigh:

 

“You gave us quite a scare last Friday.”

 

Gio sighed too remembering he had sent a panic wave across Rome and even outside of Rome. He had to text Eva, Edoardo and Sophia saying he was fine and the boys were just too alarmed. 

 

“I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry about that.”

 

Gio didn’t mean to scare anyone but secretly he was so glad that Eva cared this much that she got scared just about him going off the grid.

 

She shook her head lightly:

 

“It’s okay.” Then she pulled on her sleeves and put on a very serious tone, “Just don’t do it again.”

 

“I won’t. I promise.” Gio said in an equally serious tone hoping that she would believe. Despite his serious expression deep down he was beaming because of how much she cared.

 

Then he said, “You were right.”

 

“About?” she asked with raised eyebrows and her head held up.

 

“Luca wasn’t even mad at me.”

 

He had decided there that he should listen to Eva more. She was probably right all the time when they were dating too but Gio was too stupid to listen.

 

She smiled and flipped her hair. Gio added while smiling:

 

“And I’m no longer planning on studying law. My definite plan is to study politics.”

 

Her smile grew as she throw her head back and said:

 

“I’m proud of you, Gio."

 

Hearing this sentence second time in one week was everything to Gio. One came from Marti, the other from Eva. He knew they meant it with everything they had.

 

They stared at each other for a few seconds with smiles. Gio felt all of the background noise of the street and the students fade away. He ran a hand through his hair:

 

“I actually wanted to plan our study date.” he said mumbling at the date part. He didn’t want her to understand him wrongly they had a good thing going on right now. But what could he do that was the term. He felt his palms sweating.

 

“How about tomorrow?” she said smiling.

 

“Great.” he said with a big smile that reached his eyes. She seemed excited like him too but Gio tried not reading into it.

 

“It would be just over a week since you stopped smoking so you should be gaining some of your brain cells back.” she said with a smirk and a twinkle in her eyes.

 

Gio laughed at her. He had missed Eva messing with him. 

 

“Whatever you say teacher.”

 

This made Eva laugh too which in turn send Gio in a bigger laugh. They stood there bursting out laughing as people passed by them. He knew it sounded corny but at that moment Gio felt like they were the only two people in the world.

 

Everything was falling into place.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!!! I want to hear about what you think, any feedback you have feel free to send them to me!
> 
> I thought of Bracciano as Gio's shelter so that's why he went there alone and when the boys came too it definitely become his shelter.
> 
> I thought without full on breaking down he wouldn't open up so that's why the first part is like that. I loved exploring all the friendships Gio has within the squad! They all make me so emotional. (a Nicco moment is coming too)
> 
> Also Gio and Eva <3 
> 
> You can watch a trailer for the Giovanni season accompanying the fic here : 
> 
> https://youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com/post/185628367901/giovanni-garau-season-5-trailer-made-by-the  
> Like I said let me know what you think!


	8. Episode 8 : Family Isn't Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wel... I'm so sorry that the update took so long... Technically it wasn't a break I was writing but I was busy and it took a lot of time... 
> 
> I worked with somebody with the proofread so I language wise this is the best chapter. Let me know what you think about that!
> 
> This is like the "building bridges new & old" kind of chapter! I hope you'll like it!!

** Sabato 13:28 - Clear Consciece **

After the ‘family’ breakfast Gio had retreated back to his room. He was going through his notes from his study date with Eva yesterday. It was surprisingly helpful- more helpful than Gio had expected. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Eva’s knowledge, more that he didn’t know Eva was this good of a teacher. She was also good at knowing when to take a break. So he followed her advice and took breaks today to practise some new songs on his guitar.

He was listening out, waiting for his mom to take Marco to his school to watch a football match. Marco wasn’t playing football, for health reasons, but that didn’t stop him from cheering for his team and his friends. As soon as they left he was going to go and talk to Fabio, who had opted to stay at home. He wanted and needed Marco to be not around during this. He was still avoiding any conflict with Fabio, but he just had to say everything that was on his mind.

When he heard the sound of the door shutting he put down his book and the highlighter he had borrowed from Eva. He waited for a few more minutes to make sure they were really gone. In his head, and in theory, he had the courage to talk to his father, but nevertheless he was still nervous. When he got up with his leg was shaking a little. With a deep breath he left his room and walked over to the living room.

Fabio Garau was sitting on the couch watching the sports channel on TV. Gio’s arrival wasn’t enough to get his attention so he stood at the door awkwardly for a few seconds. Then he walked inside:

“Can we talk?” he asked. He didn’t say dad. _He didn’t feel like calling him dad. The word didn’t have much meaning for Gio now, maybe it never did._

The man looked at Gio without answering, and then reached for the remote and muted the TV.

“Sure,” he said.

Upon hearing this Gio sat down on the other couch, facing Fabio. Even though the sound was off, his eyes were still locked on the TV.  

But when Gio said, “I’m not trying to start a fight,” the man turned towards him. Gio continued, “I’ve sat and listened to you be sexist, racist and homophobic for years. I used to be like that. I’ve said racist things too. But then, I started to read and learn more and I began to see you for exactly who you are.”

It was hard but Gio kept his eyes on the man. Giovanni was no longer hiding from him nor shying away from the confrontation. Fabio clenched his jaw as he got angrier.

“And what exactly am I? A fascist?” He asked, getting louder at the word ‘fascist’.

Gio took a breath and nodded:

“To me, yes you are.” Before letting him say anything Gio added, “For years I never corrected you while I corrected my friends and even strangers. I didn’t argue with you while I was arguing with my teachers."

Fabio turned back to the TV with a blank expression:

“So? Are you going to argue with me now?”

He still seemed very angry, but not like last Friday, probably because Gio was trying so hard to keep his co ol.

Gio shrugged:

“Honestly, I don’t know.” He had gotten his attention again. Fabio turned back to him as he spoke. “I don’t think anything I could say would change how you think now. Even Marco doesn’t blindly follow you anymore. If I ever argued with you in the future it would purely be for my own conscience.”

Fabio’s chuckle sounded angry and forced:

“It might surprise you but your ‘fascist’ father’s conscience is very clean.”

Gio couldn’t help but flinch at the word ‘father’; he shook his head and chuckled in the same forced way:

“Good for you,” he said in a condescending tone, earning himself a sharp glare from Fabio.

Then Gio leaned back on the couch saying the things he had been thinking for years in the back of his mind but was only now ready to accept:

“I actually want to thank you.” Fabio raised his eyebrows in confusion. Gio continued, “after I realized what a bigot you were I tried my hardest to not be like you. Somehow, without even trying it one bit, you made me the man I am today. I tried so hard not to offend people, to know my own limits, to educate myself on important issues. All that was because of you.” He shook his head looking down, “for a while I wondered if I was doing all of that just to spite you, but then I realized I was just being a decent human being.”

The last part earned him another sharp glare but his father said nothing. _The tables had turned, and Gio could almost see his father bite his cheek trying to not respond._ Somebody that didn’t know them would think it was a father trying not to fight with his son, but Gio knew he was rendered speechless by his sudden openness and all the things he had said.

Fabio turned back to his TV and denied what Gio already knew:

“I promised your mom that I wasn’t going to fight with you so I’m not going to answer that.”

As much as Greta always listened to and agreed with her husband, Fabio did the same. They might be lacking in the parenting and being open-minded departments but it turned out they were pretty good in the marriage one. Gio was sure that their talk didn’t go with Greta saying ‘How could you hit our son?’; but it definitely went with Greta saying ‘Look, I know he was in the wrong but you can’t hit him. Don’t fight with him anymore, I want peace in the house.’ She was obsessed with peace in the house, which Gio found ironic.

Two weeks ago Gio would have left the conversation there. To be honest two weeks ago they wouldn’t even be having this conversation, but today Gio saw an opportunity to talk.

“Since we are on the topic of you being a fascist…” he said, earning him another glare, “…women can do what they want with their bodies and it’s definitely not up to a man like you to decide on abortion. Yes, refugees are people like you and me who are just trying to save themselves from wars that countries like ours created.”

Gio knew all of this was making his father angrier but he couldn’t care less. It was like all the things he had bottled up were just flowing out. He got comfortable on the couch and finished off with a smirk:

“And one last thing, with all the hate you have, you’re not the person to decide who can love who. Nobody can decide that anyway.”

Fabio didn’t say anything and Gio didn’t add anything. Probably to suppress his anger, he unmuted the TV and blasted the sound. A football match was playing and the commentator was far too excited.

Gio had so much more to say. All the things Fabio had said over the years was coming back to him and Gio had an answer to each and every one of them. But for now, he was just happy to have said something, even if things weren’t going to change, even if the man didn’t care about what he has to say. He tried to hide his smile as he got up. He could feel his eyes on him. When he came to the door, Gio turned around and said the final thing on his mind:

“When I study politics next year, I’ll come up with more compelling arguments, don’t worry.”

He had the biggest smirk on his face as he turned around, not waiting for an answer because what he had said was bound to get him a reply. And he was right, the man shouted after him:

“Don’t come to me for money ever again.”

That was the only leverage he had. Or at least he thought he had because what he didn’t know was that Gio had already decided not to take his money. Gio got to his room totally unbothered by his little threat. _He was happy and his conscience was the cleanest it had ever been._ He jumped onto his bed, grabbed his guitar and started to play his favorite songs.

* * *

 

**Domenica 14:05-Understanding**

 

Gio was with Edoardo at a music store that mostly sold guitars and guitar parts. It was Edoardo’s favorite store and he had recommended it to him when he had reached out to him asking if they could meet up. Ever since Edo had seen him acting so strangely and fidgeting on the street he had been texting him regularly. Gio felt like he owed him an explanation - he seemed worried and as though he genuinely cared about how he was doing.

_It was nice, how much people cared_. Now that Gio was feeling better and looking at things from a different perspective he was seeing how much the people around him genuinely cared for him- the boys staying up all night looking for him, dedicating a whole weekend to him, never leaving him alone, Eva trying to comfort him and regularly calling him; even Eleonora who reassured him that he wasn’t alone, and Edoardo who often checked in to see how he was doing.

Edoardo was sitting in a small backless chair with a black electric guitar and was playing some riffs on it. Gio grabbed an acoustic guitar and sat down on the chair next to it, facing Edo. Gio started to follow the electronic guitar, accompanying with the same riffs. Edo looked up and smiled. They continued for a while, both enjoying themselves.

When Edoardo finally put down his guitar Giovanni kept on playing until the song had ended. Then he slowly put the guitar back. Edoardo was looking at him and watching his every move. He leaned forward and asked:

“Do you want to talk? About anything?”

Giovanni remembered how he used to dislike Edoardo and his friends. How much he had hated the way they treated girls as potential conquests, how they marked an “x” on the wall after they had fucked someone. Edo was different from what Gio expected him to be. _Or maybe it was more that he had changed too, much like Gio had changed for the better._

He looked over Edo's shoulder:

“Do you remember our conversation about cutting your family out ?”

Edo nodded without saying anything.

“You were right,” Gio said, with a smile that tried to reassure him that he was okay.

It didn’t work. Edo looked concerned, and asked:

“It’s not your brother is it?”

Edo’s recollection of what Gio had told him was a testament to how much he had changed.

Gio shook his head:

“Parents.” he corrected.

Edo straightened in his seat:

“I’m not exactly in talking terms with my father either.”

Then he looked at Gio and two of them gave each other a painful, understanding smile. It was different from the understanding that he had with his friends. Luca and Nicco loved their parents- sure they fought like any other family but in general they got on well. Marti’s father had left, but that was different. Marti’s father had chosen to leave because he was a selfish prick, while Gio had made the decision himself to break away from his parents because of their selfishness. _He and Edoardo were in different places but at least both of them had chosen to leave behind bad people who didn’t care about them._

“When those homophobic assholes came at Martino and you guys I was so furious. I had to do something.”

He didn’t need to specify what he was talking about - that night was always at the back of Gio’s mind and it seemed as though it was like that for Edo too. Gio opened his mouth to thank him but all he could get out was:

“Edoardo, tha-

Before Edo raised his hand stopping him- probably because Gio had already thanked him enough for a lifetime and also because Edoardo never thought what he did was worthy of thanks anyway.

"Do you know why I broke that chair on that guy’s back?” he asked.

Gio sighed and shook his head, and he continued:

“I saw Fede lying on the ground with that guy punching him and kicking him. That was the point I lost it. Same as you losing it…”

“When they punched Martino,” Gio finished for him.

Edoardo shrugged and smirked slightly:

“We are alike in some ways.” He paused and took a deep breath. "I know it’s not easy to just leave your parents behind but it’s helped me realize that my real family has always been Fede and the boys, like Martino and your friends are yours. Then Ele became a part of my family and somehow Filippo did too.” He chuckled at the end and Gio smiled a little at him. “You told me that I have the ‘contrabbandieri’ too now, well you have me and the villa boys.”

As he finished Edoard reached to put his hand on Gio’s shoulder. He had always considered his friends- first Marti and Elia and then Luca and Nicco to be his family, but thinking about what Edo had said and looking back he realised that they had always been his true family. The blood pact he made with Marti when they were seven, Elia saving his ass when they were caught the first time they smoked and so on. Edo was right about him and the villa boys too. Fighting the fascist homophobes together had given them an unbreakable bond.

“Thank you,” Gio said and smiled. He thought that that wasn’t enough so he added, “We didn’t really know each other. You didn’t need to involve yourself, but you did. Thanks, really.”

Edo smiled

“Of course.”

_They were more alike than Gio had previously thought_ -Edo still thought that what he had done didn’t deserve any thanks. Gio would think the same were the roles reversed.

Edo’s smile faded and he became more serious again, leaning forward and saying;

“One last thing to keep in mind: your parents might be the reason you are here physically, but they are in no way responsible for the person you are or the person you will be. That’s all your doing.”

Gio nodded with a little smile at this. It was true. Despite his father's bigotry he had done his own research and his own reading and had come to his own opinions. His protectiveness, how observant he was, that all came from the bonds he had made with his friends, not because his father encouraged him to be like that. Gio didn’t know much about Edoardo’s parents. He knew his mother had died some years ago but that was it. He had a feeling that they would be keeping in touch and that he would get the full story eventually.

As the topic came to its natural end Edoardo got up and grabbed the electronic guitar again. He sat down and said with a bright smile:

“If you decide to study in Milano, you already have a place to stay. And I’m always looking for people to jam with.” Edoardo said, strumming the guitar as he did so.

Gio had an equally bright smile on his face:

“I think I’m gonna stay in Rome, but thanks.” He got up and grabbed the acoustic guitar. “ And same. Nobody knows their music around here.”

They both laughed as they started to play again,

The last two months had been awful for Gio but he thought about what people always said- that every cloud has a silver lining. _All this pain and stress made him appreciate his found family more than ever before and he was grateful that it had given the opportunity to get to know Edo._

__

* * *

 

**Martedi 17:12-Another Silver Lining**

 

Giovanni was at a cafe for his second study date with Eva. It was the same cafe where they had bumped into each other a few weeks ago. In fact, they were sat at the same big, rectangular table facing each other. Eva had ordered a lungo and Gio had a macchiato. A cheese and ham sandwich which they were sharing was set in the middle of the table, next to a slice of chocolate cake that they had also decided to split. Eva had said that their brains needed the sugar.

She looked so beautiful in the yellow sweater that she was wearing, and Gio was almost sure that it was the same one she wore to Bracciano so long ago. Call it photographic memory or love, Gio could almost recall every outfit of Eva. Sometimes he kept it to himself, fondly smiling while other times he would tell her, still surprising her every time. While Gio was lost in thought Eva tapped her pen on the table, trying to get his attention.

“Should we look at some world history?” she asked.

Gio who was completely zoned out went on with his question instead of answering Eva’s:

“Did you wear that sweater to our last trip to Bracciano?”

Eva opened his mouth then closed it, clearly not understanding the question:

“What?”

Gio understood the confusion he had created but he wanted to know the answer to test himself and knew he couldn’t go back now.

“Your sweater, did you bring it to the Bracciano trip where I brought Marti and Elia came and we fought?”

Eva looked down at her sweatshirt trying to remember while Gio cursed himself for having brought up bad memories, what a great move.

But she didn’t seem to mind. She had a wide smile as she looked up and chuckled:

“I’m not sure but I think so, yeah. Do you seriously remember that?”

Gio shrugged feeling proud of himself that he was right and that he had made Eva laugh:

“Of course, I remember everything.”

He didn’t specify whether he meant everything in general or everything about their relationship. After a second of pausing Eva cleared her throat and said,

“Then what’s the last thing I said?”

She had Gio there. He scratched his head.

“You were talking about a war between the Romans and Greeks.”

She put on a smirk and raised her eyebrows:

“After that?”

Gio smiled like a little kid who had been caught and shrugged. She must have said something while Gio had been fixated on her outfit. He was trying to come up with an excuse when Eva said:

“I think this calls for a break.” She closed her book and put it on the other side of the table.

Then she reached for the chocolate cake but Gio beat her up to it. He grabbed the plate away from her reach while Eva protested. Gio pointed at the sandwich in between them:

“Main course first, then dessert,” he said with a smile.

Eva groaned as Gio spilt the sandwich, giving Eva the bigger part without her noticing. Both of them stuffed the sandwich into their mouths and a minute later Eva put the chocolate cake between them. She took a huge chunk with her fork to which Gio laughed and said,

“That’s more than half of it!”

She shrugged and laughed taking another piece. Gio took a relatively small chunk as he kept looking at her. He had missed this so much. Just hanging out with Eva: the way they teased each other and could just goof around. Looking back, he had really taken her for granted. He knew their breakup was mostly his fault, but maybe even if he hadn’t lied all of those times they were still destined to have broken up. He realized he had never truly appreciated how much he loved Eva until they had broken up. As if she read his mind Eva said:

“We weren’t very good at staying friends were we?”

Her face had fallen slightly and Gio’s smile had faded

“Not really,” he said.

Even though there was cake still waiting to be eaten she put her fork down, worrying him.

“Maybe it was better this way.” Gio’s worry must have shown on his face because Eva started to explain quickly, “I mean, it was weird when Marti was going all through that last year and we never talked. But maybe we needed some alone time, away from each other?”

The sentence would have been a statement but she said it like a question with her voice rising at the end. Gio wasn’t sure if it was better this way. Maybe if they were more like friends things would have been easier to deal with, or maybe they would have fought and wouldn’t even be talking right now. _He knew one thing though, that Eva needed Gio to agree with her, so that’s what he did._

“Yeah, maybe,” he said with a soft smile.

Eva began to smile again too. She looked convinced. They silently finished the cake, taking sips from their coffee for the next few minutes. When they were done Gio thought they were going back to studying and was about to open his books again. He stopped when Eva said:

“You never told me what happened, the other Friday when you disappeared.”

Her smile was gone again. She brushed her hair off her face -a move that would normally have made Gio swoon - and looked at him with her brown eyes wide open, her eyebrows knitted together and her lips pursed. Only then did Gio realize that this hadn’t come up before. She must have been worrying about that for some time now. He didn’t want to tell her everything, no matter how much it had helped when they talked just a day before that disappearance. But he also didn’t want to hold anything back like he had before. Maybe it was how Eva looked at him or just the unbearable silence, but he suddenly  blurted out:

“My father hit me.”

Gio saw Eva flinch at the word ‘hit’ and her eyes now had a hint of anger. Her expression was too similar to the one she had after the fight with the homophobic assholes. That night, in between the boy’s panic and Sofia grabbing his face he had managed to take a quick glance at Eva who was watching from afar. Gio looked down as Eva asked,

“He what?”

Eva was fidgeting in her seat with a serious expression on her face. She looked two seconds away from going off to fight Fabio Garau. Gio almost smiled for that. She didn’t ask him if he had provoked it, which Gio appreciated. He lifted his head up:

“It was just a slap…” Eva opened her mouth, probably to protest his use of the word ‘just’ but Gio didn’t give her a chance and continued, “…he is a textbook fascist. For years I stayed silent…”

And so they sat in that little cafe for almost the whole evening. Gio told her everything, once he started telling her he couldn’t stop. Eva just listened and listened and commented on things where necessary. She was a really good listener. She had probably always been such a good listener, but Gio had just never noticed or had never had anything so serious to tell her about. Or, more likely, she was always a good listener but she had still changed over the past year after being a good friend to Marti and Eleonora and the girls. _There was something so calming about the way she nodded and gave tiny encouraging smiles to keep him talking._ He was still nervous about the future, but she made him feel as though in that moment, he was okay. Her reaction was the same as the boys; she wondered how she didn’t notice all of this while they were dating. Gio tried to brush it off by saying he was always hiding something (and not just the weed) and that he covered it so well but she didn’t seem convinced.

When Gio was done talking Eva just reached and grabbed his hand without saying anything. She didn’t need to. Gio didn’t tell her so she could give her advice like the last time and Eva knew that. _She still knew Gio even after how much they had both changed in their time apart._

Another silver lining, Gio thought- he had become closer with Eva.

 

* * *

 

**Mercoledi 17:44-Some Sort of Mentor**

 

Filippo had agreed to give Gio a tour of his university because, at least according to Elia, it had a great politics program. It was the first time Gio had spent one-on-one time with Filippo and it was really nice. The guy was so cool and seemed so knowledgeable. Also, he was super popular. As they walked around he was always saying hi and smiling at everyone. He had his film camera with him and was taking pictures, saying that Gio would need them if he were to come here next year. Filippo had even given the camera to a friend to take pictures of them both.

Gio liked the school. It ticked off a lot of his boxes. It was in Rome, it wasn’t too big, its football team was super, the professors in the politics program were great, the people there were nice too. As someone whose priorities revolved around his friendships, the student profile at the university he would go to was important to Gio. He was generally good at making friends, but it was nice to have Filippo as a safety net to help him meet new people.

Now they were sitting at a little cafe near the school talking about the tour. Both had ordered some coffee. Filippo’s camera and phone were lying on the table, as was Gio’s phone. Filippo leaned back in his chai:

“So we’ll be attending the same school next year, huh?”

Gio smiled:

“There’s a high chance of that.”

Filippo hit his coffee cup on the table in fake protest:

“Hey! Come on, you loved the school and some of my friends are in love with you already. Plus I’m here, what more do you want?”

Gio laughed, shaking his head and pointed at Filippo:

“Even if I hated the school I would come just for you.”

Filippo laughed too and winked at him:

“Now I see why everybody likes you.”

Gio shrugged trying to play it cool:

“What I have cannot be taught.”

Gio had managed to make Filippo laugh again. He hoped that Filippo was as impressed by him as he was impressed by Filippo.

The older boy had been hanging around with them more lately and Gio knew he would be seeing him a lot more. He was an important figure to both Marti and Nicco. He had helped Marti a lot when Gio had no idea what he was going through.

Gio understood everything now, but there was only so much he could do. Gio could go around punching homophobes, Gio could talk to Marti all day and tell him everything was okay but he would never truly understand how he was hesitant to kiss Nicco in public like Filippo could. As much as he was trying to educate himself to be a good friend and an ally, Gio could never be Filippo. _They needed someone like Filo anyway. Maybe Filo needed the couple too._

As Gio was thinking about all of that while drinking his coffee, he saw Filippo suddenly getting more serious. Filippo put down his coffee and rested his arms on the table:

“On a serious note how did you like the school? Like really?”

Gio put his coffee down too and he smiled shaking his head:

“I really liked it. I mean I’m still not completely sure about what I want to do but it’s nice to know that I have a lot of options.”

Filippo smiled:

“If you want, I could find a politics professor you could talk to. It might help you decide.”

Yeah, Filippo was really cool. Gio appreciated him offering that. He answered with a smile:

“Thanks. That would be great.”

Filippo smiled brightly and raised his coffee cup at Gio, then proceeding to take a sip from it. Instead of reaching for his own coffee cup too, Gio grabbed Filippo’s camera off the table and took a photo of Filippo without him noticing at first. After hearing the shutter click, Filippo raised his head:

“Nooooo!” he said.

Gio laughed and gave him the camera back:

“What? You took all the pictures today.”

Filippo smiled cockily as he rolled his eyes:

“Fine. At least tell me I looked good.”

Gio answered with a smirk and a twinkle in his eyes:

“Always.”

The whole day had gone like this. One of them would complement the other and the other would keep the game up. Like Gio had said a million times, it was fun to hanging with Filippo, it felt nice.

That was when Filippo cleared his throat.

“I don’t know everything.” He scratched his head.  “But I heard some things. Me and Ele have been on our own for some time now. We didn’t exactly fall out with our parents, but anyway. It’s not the worst thing in the world. It’s actually much better now than it was when they were around.”

Gio guessed Marti or Nicco had told Filippo about all of the drama of the past few weeks. He probably was one of the people called in the panic when Gio disappeared which then meant they then had to explain what was going on. He wasn’t upset over the fact that they told him some stuff. In the end, everybody was trying to help, even Filippo who was his ex-girlfriend’s best friend’s brother, his best friend’s mentor. The relationships in their little friend group were getting too complicated.

Filippo was not only a funny guy, but he cared too and he was trying to be kind too. It was similar to how Gio felt when he talked to Edoardo. _To an extent, Filippo understood him better than the boys did._ Even if he didn’t, it was just so nice that he was trying to help in his own way. _Maybe he could become a sort of mentor to Gio too_ , especially if they end up in the same university.

Gio smiled softly and said:

“Thanks, really.”

They could have kept the conversation going but Filippo’s phone rang and Gio’s eyes fell on it. The caller ID said “Santini” and there was a picture of Elia in a bed he hadn’t seen before. Filippo looked at the phone then to Gio. He quickly grabbed it off the table and left saying he would only be a second.

It turned out Gio needed to start a weird things Filippo does list too. He had no idea that Elia and Filippo were close enough to be calling each other randomly. Or for Filippo to have Elia only under his last name, almost like a nickname, with a picture saved for his contact . His mind started to come up with excuses. Maybe he was calling to check up on the tour, he thought.

Gio needed to start being more observant again.

 

* * *

 

**Giovedi 16:55-Just Friends**

Sofia was back in Rome for a couple of days, so she and Gio met up for a coffee. They were in the same cafe where he had studied with Eva two days previously. As much as he loved it there, Gio was beginning to think that needed to find some new places to hang out. 

He was so happy to see Sofia again. They had so much to talk about, and doing it face to face was so much better than doing it through Skype. At the end of the summer, just before she went back to Argentina, the two had come to a natural end in their romantic relationship- now when they were hanging out it felt like they were just friends. Gio liked those hangouts where they never stopped laughing. Sofia was just so lovable and even the boys loved her too. So much so that contrabbandieri and Sofia had grabbed a late lunch before they had come here.

“I’ve missed this place,” said Sofia as she took a sip from her iced coffee.

It was almost December and she was drinking iced coffee, while in the summer she would drink hot coffee. Gio always found this amusing.

“Try coming here four times a week, then you wouldn’t miss it.”

Sofia smiled and rolled her eyes:

“Don’t complain, you get the regular customer discount.”

She was right. Aside from being close to school and having great desserts, because they came here so often the owner recognised them and would give them a discount every so often. Gio laughed:

“You have a good point.”

Truthfully, she always had a good point, which made it so frustrating to argue with her. She never held anything back either, like that time she just blurted out asking when Gio was going to tell his father he didn’t want to study law. Well, he technically had done so. He had already explained the reason for his disappearance. He said that he had fought with his family and wanted to be by himself. But he had obviously left some things out. There was no need to worry her when she was so far away, Gio thought. _Yeah, no matter how much he was opening up now he was still a little hesitant and didn’t want to ruin the boundaries of their friendship_. 

“By the way, I told my father that I don’t want to study law,” Gio said with a shy smile.

Sofia smiled brightly as she clapped her hands:

“That’s great. I’m proud of you.”

No matter how much he heard the second sentence over the past week, it still made him so happy, especially because he knew how sincere everybody was. As for Sofia, the way her eyes were sparkling was proof that she was genuinely proud.

“Yeah, things are a bit complicated but at least it’s off my chest now,” he said, looking around with the same shy smile. 

She shrugged, grabbing her coffee cup again:

“That’s life for you.”

Gio shook his head and laughed:

“What?”

She shrugged again with a smirk:

“I’m not saying anything new. Life is complicated.” She then proceeded to drink her coffee.

Sophia was effortlessly funny. She wouldn’t try to make a joke but what she said would just make everyone listening smile or laugh. She was also effortlessly wise. She would say the most mundane or ordinary things and it would still sound like great advice. _It was easy to understand how Gio or anybody else could fall for her._ The thing was though, not every person you fell for was the one. He knew what people meant when they talked about ’the one’. Nicco was the one for Marti and Marti was the one for Nicco.

Gio laughed and she laughed back. They kept on laughing for a good five minutes and Gio was feeling his stomach hurt from it all. Sofia’s laugh died off before his. Gio realized that her eyes were locked on to a figure standing over his shoulder. That figure took three steps forward and was now standing next to their table. That figure was Eva. 

“Hi!” Sophia said to her with her usual big, shining smile.

“Hi,” Eva said without a hint of smile. Gio noticed that Eva was trying to avoid looking at him.

“Hi,” Gio said and Eva was still not looking at him. 

He wondered for a second what he did wrong because they had texted today and everything seemed fine. 

“I’m just here visiting Rome,” Sofia explained, looking at Eva and who just nodded as a reply. 

“And I’m being a good ‘friend' and catching up with her.” Gio said, putting unnecessary emphasis on the word ‘friend’. 

His emphasis had worked, and Eva had looked up while brushing off her hair behind her ear. 

“That’s nice,” Eva said, no longer avoiding making eye contact with him. 

Either Gio was reading too much into things, or Eva was jealous that he was hanging with Sofia. Anyway, he thought, he was glad he had reminded Eva that he was no longer with Sofia. 

“I should go,” Eva said abruptly, but at least she said that facing Gio.

“We’ll plan the third study ‘date’ tonight,” he said, in another attempt to make sure Eva understood how Gio felt. This time, he put unnecessary emphasis on the word ‘date’.

As Eva turned around Gio caught a glimpse of a smile on her face and he felt relieved. He exhaled and leaned back in his chair. Sofia, who had watched Eva walk away, turned to him with the most sheepish grin:

“You guys need to get back together.”

Gio felt his cheeks turning red as he bit his lip and looked away. Sophia was laughing at the face he was making.

_ Maybe the reason Eva and he didn’t work much as friends was that they weren’t supposed to be just friends. Maybe the reason Sofia and him worked so well as friends was that they were supposed to be just friends.  _

Soon after he and Sofia began scheduling weekly Skype sessions. 

* * *

 

 

** Venerdi 19:38-Family Is More Than Blood **

Gio was over at Marti and Nicco’s, drinking and chatting with the contrabbandieri and Filippo. Surprisingly, nobody was smoking. There weren’t even cigarette packets or weed lying around. Gio knew it was for him, so he didn’t say anything, but he was really grateful for how careful his friends were being. 

Gio hadn’t been very present at their last hang out. He remembered that night, what it was like when he started to smoke weed again. In just four weeks, a lot had changed. He had hit rock bottom but was slowly beginning to feel better.  He hadn’t felt that drowning feeling for a good two weeks. He felt like he could breathe better than ever before. 

He wasn’t lost in his own thoughts or trying to deal with all of his problems on his own. He was more present, fully listening to what the boys were saying. The seating arrangement was the same as before. Marti and Nicco were sitting side by side on the longer side of the rectangular table. Elia and Gio were across them. To the right side of Gio was Luca and to the left side of Elia was Filippo. All of them were drinking beers and there were already empty bottles lying on the table. There was also a half-eaten pizza in its box. 

“Silvia wants to go on a double date with you guys,” Luca said, looking at Marti and Nicco with a huge grin

Marti visibly choked on his beer and Nicco was just staring at Luca with wide eyes. Gio was just amused watching all of this play out in front of him, then turned to Elia who was looking at him too, and holding back a laugh. It wasn’t that they didn’t like Silvia. She was nice and she had always been kind to them. It’s just that she could be too much, and Marti was afraid he would get sucked into radio again, or whatever club Silvia was a part of now. 

But Luca was sitting there, looking so happy with shining eyes, so Gio knew the answer before the couple said it out loud.

“That would be great,” Marti said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, putting down his beer. 

“Yeah, definitely!” Nicco said, clearly trying to make up for Marti’s lack of excitement. 

Luca got up from his seat and ran up to the couple. He hugged them from behind throwing his one arm over Marti’s shoulder and the other over Nicco’s. Gio shook his head and laughed at the sight. He turned to look at Elia but Gio caught him sharing a knowing look with Filippo instead. He was this close to starting _a weird things Elia and Filippo do list._

Gio reached for his beer but realised that the bottle was empty. He scanned the table and saw that there weren’t any full bottles left. He jumped to his feet, saying he would get some beer from the kitchen. Once he was in the kitchen he walked over to the fridge. He opened the door and saw the one shelf filled with beers. He took out six of them, one for everybody, and put them on the counter. He closed the fridge door and turned around to find Nicco standing in the kitchen, leaning against a wall. 

“Figured you wouldn’t be able to carry all those beers on your own.”

Gio smiled, staring down at the bottles. Yeah, he could at most carry four but that ran the risk of him dropping all of them. 

“Thanks. You totally genius upgraded our group.”

Nicco laughed:

“Genius-upgrade? I’m pretty sure that’s not a saying.”

Gio shrugged it off with a smile:

“Well, that’s exactly what happened.”

Okay, Gio was a genius on his own way too. Marti, Elia and Luca were too. Gio was the most politically informed. He had a great knowledge of history as well as the current political climate all over the world and would sometimes rope the boys into conversations about politics. But yeah, his day-to-day conversations wasn’t the most sophisticated and if it wasn’t for Nicco coming over he would have definitely been stupid enough to try carrying all six beer bottles at once. Since Nicco became a part of contrabbandieri their conversations had truly been levelled-up. 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Nicco said, his laugh replaced by a soft smile. 

That’s when Gio realized the actual reason Nicco came after him to the kitchen. He wanted to talk.

Gio rested his arms on the counter and leaned forward:

“All thanks to you guys.”

“And because you were able to open up and ask for help. That takes strength, trust me,” Nicco said, with wide eyes as he kept the same soft smile.

Gio only nodded with a soft smile and looked down. He didn’t know how to respond to Nicco’s sudden compliments. 

“If you ever feel like that again, remember how strong you are and to reach out to us. We’re always here for you.”

Gio looked up at Nicco and flashed a similar soft smile at him. He then walked over to Nicco and hugged him. “Thank you,” Gio said as they separated. 

Nicco was truly one of his best friends now. It felt like he had been a part of the contrabbandieri for years- it had felt the same with Luca when he joined them too. 

_Gio has never expected anything in return for all the stuff he did for his friends, but it was good to know it went both ways with him and Nicco, who clearly saw him as one of his best friends too._ Giovanni could only take pride in that because Nicco was the coolest guy ever. 

“Come on…” Nicco said as he grabbed three of the bottles, “…they’re gonna start wondering where the beers are at any moment now.”

Gio grabbed the other three beers and left the kitchen with a smile, knowing once again that he wasn’t alone.

When they entered the living room all the boys cheered, even Filippo who had joined in the shenanigans of the younger three boys. Nicco gave Marti a quick peck on the lips as he sat down, clearly feeling safe to show PDA in the presence of their best friends and coziness of their own home. 

Elia laughed as Gio sat down in his seat, and as he did so, he could have sworn he saw Elia take his hand off Filippo’s leg, and maybe if Gio had been soberer he would have connected the dots. Elia reached over and draped his arm over Gio’s shoulder. The two of them laughed, both grabbing a sip from their beers which Nicco and Marti had opened for everybody. Filippo had his digital camera with him and took a photo of Elia and Gio, and then one of the whole table. After that, the boys insisted he should be in one picture too and they used the selfie timer to take another picture which would definitely be uploaded to Instagram later on.  

Once everybody was back in their seats and the conversation started to continue, Gio looked at the faces of everybody on the table. He took a deep breath; a happy, a calm breath. He leaned back in his chair with a big smile as his eyes shined with tears of happiness. _This was his home and these people were his family._

They were the people who were going to be there no matter what, no matter how much he fucked up, no matter how much he had lost… All he needed to do was to remember to not shut himself off. _He didn’t need anyone else when he had his chosen family that he would do anything for._ The ones who he found all on his own. They were broken at times too but they were the best people in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think by now everybody gets the Elippo hints... *wink*
> 
> I loved writing all these newfound friendships Gio had with Edo and Filo.
> 
> Also I loved the part with Eva <3
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> +here is a little social media au following the fic : https://youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com/post/185891430731/to-accompany-my-fic-a-giovanni-garau-season-i


	9. Episode 9 : How Far We've Come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii everyone! I know I'm like two weeks late for updating and I'm so sorry. Life happened I didn't find time to write but I promise that once I had the opportunity I was just full on writing. Just for your information, chapter 10 aka episode 10 is going to be the finale!!! yayyyy! thank you for the patience and i will see you for the last time in the next chapter!
> 
> basically in this one Gio grows a little more and keeps connecting with others. We see some improvements and see him take some steps. Also get ready for a lot of Gio and Eva…<3

**Domenica 14:04 - Mom Friends 2.0**

Gio was at a different cafe this time with Marti, Nicco, Filippo and Eleonora. This cafe had a different vibe to it. Instead of brick walls like their regular one there were white painted walls. Instead of wooden tables there were white marble tables. There were also a lot of green plants around the whole cafe. Eleonora had recommended it to Marti. So Marti and Nicco said they should meet here and apparently they brought Filippo along who brought Eleonora along. 

Now, the five of them were sitting together and reminiscing stories of last friday as Martino who was the drunkest of them all kept trying to shut them up. Eleonora was just listening to their stories with amusement. 

“Luchino was drunk too talk about him a little!” Marti said protesting opening his hands. 

“He is not here for us to annoy.” Gio said laughing. He truly liked messing with Martino. One of the joys in life, he would say.

Nicco reached over to Marti who was sitting by his side and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Then he draped his arm over Marti's shoulder:

“Don’t worry you were a cute drunk.”

Filippo who was sitting across the couple with Ele leaned back on his chair and winked at Gio who was sitting on the short end of the table on a chair he dragged from another table. 

“Tell that to Gio…” Filo pointed at Giovanni, “…who had to wipe off Marti's vomit.”

Well, that didn’t happen last friday but with the sentence Marti’s eyes went wide and his cheeks turned red. Gio was enjoying this so much. Filippo truly knew where to hit Marti.

Marti in a rush of movement got away from Nicco’s arm:

“What? You didn’t tell me I threw up.” Marti said looking in between the boys. 

Gio shared a look with Filippo. They were deciding on whether to continue with this lie and mess with Marti more or not telepathically. _It was like Filippo had adopted the silent bond Gio had with Elia too._ Eventually, they decided to stop torturing Marti-for now.

“Fine. You didn’t throw up this time.” Gio said with a smirk. Then he added raising his finger at Marti’s direction, “But I have done my fair share of cleaning up your vomit in the past.”

Marti raised his eyebrows at Gio while staring at him with big eyes. Gio had still managed to torture Marti a little and he was smiling big at the sight of that. 

Marti suddenly with an energy bumped his hand on the table:

“That wasn’t my fault! I thought you and Elia knew how to drink tequila!”

Gio started to laugh at how mad Marti was looking. Soon after Nicco, Filippo and Ele joined him too. Gio turned to the other three people:

“So, we were fourteen and it was our first time drinking tequila. Up until that we only had a few beers. We didn't know that you needed to do shots with tequila. Elia thought it would be good to drink them straight out of like water glasses.” Gio showed how tall were the glasses with his hands for a better story. “We were all throwing up our guts an hour later.”

This only increased the laughter at the table. Eleonora was basically cackling and Nicco was just smiling big looking at Marti with heart eyes. 

“Every story I hear from you makes me wonder how did you manage to stay alive this long.” said Filippo.

 _There were so many days Gio wondered that too._ The amounts of stupid things they did both drunk and sober were countless. One time while they were drunk they almost jumped into that abandoned pool they skateboard in. Safe to say if they really did that they would have broken every bone in their body. But Gio obviously didn’t admit this instead put on his cockiest smile:

“That’s contrabbanderi for you!” he said and reached in over the table for a fist bump with Marti and Nicco.

The Sava siblings laughed shaking their heads. A minute later Nicco jumped up from his seat:

“I think we need to buy something if we are going to keep sitting here.”

Everybody else agreed. They have been in the cafe for half an hour and because of the lack of orders and the high sounds, they were receiving looks from around. Marti followed Nicco and Filippo joined the couple so Gio stayed behind not wanting to leave Ele alone.

The moment the three boys were out of sight at the counter Eleonora turned to Gio. She said with a little smile:

“Looks like you decided to not deal with everything on your own.”

Gio remembered their conversation and how she told him that _"You can’t deal with everything on your own no matter how much you think you can.”_  Just a few days later Gio learned from first hand that how true that was. He thought he was fine and he could deal with things on his own so he ran off to Bracciano and only when he broke down in front of the boys he realized he couldn’t really deal with things on his onw. 

“Yeah. Somebody had already told me that but it took me a little while to understand it.” Gio said with a paralleling smile. 

Ele flipped her hair off:

“Well, that someone is pretty smart.” 

Gio chuckled a little at the sentence. When him and Eva were dating there were times he hanged with Ele and through the years he kept hanging with her because their groups collided but it felt like they only now became friends. 

“But thank you. I didn’t fully understand everything you meant then but now I see it. It’s so much better to allow people to help you. I couldn’t find a way out on my own. Now, everything seems okay.”

Ele smiled at him understandingly and nodded:

“I know the feeling. _It’s not that people give you a miraculous solution but it’s comforting to know you don’t have to worry on your own anymore.”_

That was so true. He still didn’t have enough money to go on with his life without the support of his parents or his grades haven’t exactly gotten better. But boys were thinking with him about the finances and offering him money as much as they could and Eva was doing her best to help with lessons. That was more than enough.

“Exactly!” Gio said as his smile got bigger.

Ele shrugged and extended her fist to Gio, like he did with the boys before:

“Us mom friends have to stick together, right?” she said with her head raised and a smile.

Gio reached and bumped her fist as he said:

“Right.” with a chuckle. 

He knew he would hang out with Ele more from then on and they would give each other both the serious and the ridiculous tips about how to deal with their “children-friends.”

They stayed silent for a minute. Then, Ele leaned back on her chair. She raised her one eyebrow and folded her arms in front of her:

“By the way, should I give you the don’t hurt my best friend ‘again’ talk?”

Gio felt his cheeks getting red and his ears burning at the sentence. Okay, well he has been reading into things between him and Eva. Eva seemed so jealous when she saw him with Sophia. They talked over the weekend and everything was cleared. Yet, Gio was afraid to make a move. After all, they had a good thing going on now. _But Ele jokingly but not-so-jokingly saying this meant Eva was thinking the same thing._

“You don’t have to. I won’t hurt her. Mom friend promise.” Gio said shifting the tone of the conversation to a serious one.

Eleonora said in a equally serious voice:

“I believe you Garau.”

They couldn’t stay serious for another second. Gio and Ele burst out laughing which meant that Eleonora had truly believed him and that was everything. He had a talk like that with Nicco (that one ended with laughter as well). After the talk Nicco and Marti’s relationship got more serious. So basically the approval from the best friend gave the other person all the power they needed. 

As the two of them laughed Marti, Nicco and Filo came with the coffee cups in their hands. Marti sat down Gio’s cup and said a quiet “On me.” to which Gio thanked with a little smile. After everybody had settled they kept on chatting telling each other ridiculous stories. Now, Ele was participating too talking about the girls and their shenanigans. 

Gio looked around the table while he smiled. It was nice sitting with his old friend Marti, somewhat new friend Nicco, old but new friend Ele and new friend Filo. It was so nice. 

 

* * *

 

**Lunedi 16:38-Reminders**

Gio and Eva were on their third study “date”. They had both been calling it a date, stressing the ‘date’ part as a joke ever since last week. Honestly, it felt a bit like a date too. They never officially said anything, and they were technically meeting to study but Gio felt like they were on a date, and he knew Eva thought the same. Today, they were at a park even though the chilly fall weather was showing itself. Giovanni had suggested getting some oxygen to their brains could help, and Eva happily agreed. They sat down on a bench with a table, opened up their books and started to study.   
They had bought coffee for themselves on the way. Eva had made sandwiches at home and brought them over. Giovanni had a surprise in his backpack as well. 

“So, are you ready for the quiz tomorrow?” Eva asked with a smile. 

Gio started to play with his coffee cup. He had been studying with Eva for over a week now and had learned so much. _When Gio studied he tried to revise everything, especially in history, because he liked to learn. When Eva studied she emphasized the important bits, the stuff that would be on the quizzes, helping Gio to learn the exact information needed for the quizzes and exams._ But he was still nervous about them. He was afraid that he would mess up and that his grades would plummet. More than anything, he was scared he would let down Eva, because she had been trying so hard to help him.

“I don’t know,” he said shrugging. 

Eva reached across the table and held his hand, startling him a little because so far _they had minimal physical contact with each other_. Eva had probably noticed Gio's reaction but didn’t let go of his hand.

“Look, you know the things that could come up on the quiz. Just focus on those topics. And if you do badly it’s okay too. You’ll still have the chance to improve your grades.”

Gio wasn’t entirely convinced, he was still so nervous, but Eva was trying to help and succeeding a little bit so he smiled back. As he looked at Eva’s face he couldn’t help but think about how much she had grown. Sure, she had always known what to say, so much better than him, but now she did everything with such confidence.

“You know, you’ve changed a lot,” Gio said, suddenly not being able to hold back what he was thinking.

Eva shook her head with a smile:

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Gio nodded with a smile:

“A good thing. Really good.”

Eva raised her eyebrows and Gio felt like she was either getting suspicious or curious:

“Do you want to elaborate on that Giovanni?” she said, smirking slightly.

Gio thought for a second, trying to come up with the perfect words to describe what he was thinking. He couldn’t really form the sentences in his mind so he just started rambling.

“You’re so confident. Not that you weren’t before but it’s different. Back then it looked like you were always questioning yourself, but now you seem so sure of yourself.” He paused and saw a confused look on her face and he got scared that he was saying the wrong things, “You were great before, too but it’s like you got greater.” 

Gio stopped talking, looking nervously at Eva. She did the opposite of what he was expecting and had the biggest grin:

“Well, I feel great-er.” 

Gio smiled back until her face fell slightly and she got more serious.

“I don’t know if I’ve found myself. Maybe I did, but I know I’ll keep rediscovering myself. I feel like all of that is a journey” She paused and took a deep breath, then looked Gio straight in the eye, “I always knew what I wanted.” Another pause that reminded them both of a painful memory. “And I always knew what I liked. But I always felt like I needed to be more like other people and apologize for being myself.” Another pause. "But not anymore. I’m happy with who I am.”  

Throughout the whole conversation they were holding hands over the table. Gio squeezed Eva’s hand with a warm smile:

“I’m happy for you, really.”

“Thanks,” Eva said, smiling shyly.

Gio put on a cockier smile:

“You know, I’m just glad you remembered how nice it was to be around you.”

Another reminder to both of them, but it was a good memory this time. The moment Gio ended the sentence Eva looked at him again. They sat there staring at each other for a good minute. Gio gulped. Everything was getting more awkward and he didn’t know what to do. Even though they had been holding hands for like five minutes, Gio still felt afraid of messing it up. One wrong, premature move and what they had could be destroyed before they had the chance to start again. But he took a risk anyway, and let go of Eva’s hands to reach into his backpack.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Gio said to explain his abrupt distance, hoping she wouldn’t misunderstand him.

He took out the little plastic box filled with pieces of chocolate and cherry cake. Gio put the box in between them and pushed it towards Eva a little. 

“What’s this?" she asked while brushing off her hair from her face.

“Open it.” Gio said with a smirk.  
Eva opened the box and grabbed one piece. She looked at Gio before biting the piece as though she were seeking confirmation. He just nodded, so took a small bite from the piece. 

“It’s my favorite,” she said with the brightest smile, raising her voice enough to earn them some looks from kids in the park. 

“Yeah, I know,” Gio said with his smirk getting bigger as he felt so proud of himself for making Eva this happy. “I wanted to thank you for everything, for all your advice, for being my teacher and for listening to me.”

Eva was on her second piece as she said:

“First of all, you don’t have to thank me.” She took another bite. “Second of all, how did you remember what I liked?”

“I might have lied a lot, but I listened to you a lot too. _Also it’s not like you can just erase information from your head.”_

That was true. Admittedly Gio wasn’t the best boyfriend to Eva but he loved her and knew her so well: how when she was home alone she would still watch Winx, or how many shots it took for her to get super drunk, or how seriously she took any game that they played.

Eva just smiled at him and pushed the box forward motioning him to eat some too. After he grabbed one piece for himself Eva asked with a frown:

“Wait, did you do this yourself?”

Gio answered as he bit into his cake:

“Elia might have helped me a little.”

Eva laughed at him shaking her head and Gio laughed too. It was no secret Gio sucked at cooking, especially baking. 

By the end their “study date” felt more like a date. Gio knew he needed to make a move soon.

 

* * *

 

 

**Mercoledi 13:20-Joyous Occasion**

Gio left the classroom with Marti and Elia on either side of him. The two boys were jumping up and down as they chanted “Gio! Gio! Gio!”. The cause of the celebrations were the fact that Gio had gotten a full mark from his history quiz from the day before. This whole scene made everyone in the corridor turn their heads to the trio. They made their way into the hallway as Eva followed them with a laugh and a few of her cheers too while Gio was desperately trying to get them all to quiet down. _All of this noise made on behalf of him caused him to get a little shy but he still couldn’t hide his smile._

Once they retreated next to a window as a group with Gio and Eva facing each other and Marti and Elia facing each other Gio raised his hand:

“I think the whole school knows what I got on the quiz.”

Elia jumped up again sending the other three into a fit of laughter and shouted:

“AS THEY SHOULD.”

Gio had to physically reach and grab Elia’s shoulders to pull him down and instruct him to stay put. They didn’t need more attention than they were already getting. It would have been weird being the talk of the school over a simple good grade on a quiz. It wasn’t simple for Gio though. He was trying to hide it but he was over the moon. Sure, everything seemed to be getting better in the past two weeks but this grade was _tangible proof_ that it really was getting better. 

While they were causing some cacophony Doctor Spera passed the hallway. His and Gio's gazes caught on for a second and the older man gave Gio a big smile and a thumbs up. Gio thought Doctor Spera was weird but at least he was damn great at his job and he was a good person. He smiled back at him but opted not to do the thumbs up to avoid any attention from the other three people he was with. 

“I’m proud of you Gio.” Marti said two seconds later with a big smile and finally in a voice that wasn’t meant for the whole school. 

Gio had been hearing this sentence too much lately nevertheless it still made him so happy and a little emotional. He was proud of himself too. Before his period of slump because he always had good grades it wasn’t something he took pride in. Getting high grades was like an everyday, regular activity for him. _Now that he had hit rock bottom and rose up getting a good grade felt like an accomplishment._ So he was proud but Eva was right there and he felt like giving her some credit in front of other people.

“Thank my amazing teacher.” he said pointing at Eva with a smile.

She smiled back at with her cheeks getting a little red and looked down. This only made Gio’s smile grew. 

“Only because I had such a good student.” Eva said and this time Gio’s cheeks got a little red.

Of course Marti had to ruin the good mood:

“Get a room you two.” he said as he jokingly groaned.

Marti was standing in between Gio and Eva so both of them in the same moment smacked him on his arms. Marti jokingly groaned in pain this time while Gio and Eva looked at each other and started to laugh. They did that at the same time without even locking eyes or something. Gio thought about how they were truly treating Marti as if he was their little brother like everybody said. 

“That was some soulmate thing both of you smacking Martino at the same time.” Elia said with a smirk. 

Gio looked at Eva this time and she must have thought the same thing because she looked at him too. They locked their eyes and raised their hands to smack Elia this time but Elia was quicker than Marti so he took a step back.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Elia said faking fear. 

Eva looked at Gio with a twinkle in her eyes. We corrupted her, Gio thought. A second later, scratch that she was always like this, she always clicked with us, he thought.

“Fine you are forgiven Santini.” Eva said while sending a wink at Gio. “But be careful next time.” she added pointing her index finger at Elia.

They laughed as Marti kept on protesting about why he was the only one to get a smack. After the laughs Gio suggested getting coffee (as if it was something they never did) to celebrate this joyous occasion. 

Gio turned around to start walking and Eva quickly caught up with him. She congratulated him again, without the boys hearing this time and Gio thanked feeling his cheeks getting red and his ears burning. Then, they started to talk about the quiz questions.

A few minutes later he checked the back to see if the two boys were following them and they were _. He caught a little glimpse of them shaking hands as if they were making a deal_. What are they up to now?, Gio thought as Eva excitedly told him something about a new TV show she started. 

 

* * *

 

 

**Giovedi 20:41-Good Kind of Zoning Out**

Giovanni was at another silent, awkward family dinner. They would, naturally, occur every evening but Gio dreaded them the whole day. While eating he managed to get himself zoned out of the conversation _(which was a good thing in this case)._ Then he thought about everything that happened in the day and everything that would happen the next day. It was a good trick, it made him deal with still living at that home. 

Marco tried to cut up the awkwardness in his own way. Every evening for the past like two weeks, without giving up once, he had been talking non-stop at the dinner table. Yeah, every kid his age was like that and they wouldn’t shut up about their day at school or about their new obsessions but Marco had taken it to another level. Especially compared with previous family dinners Marco had truly stepped up. So much so that Gio wondered how his brother found time to eat dinner. 

Two months ago Gio would be joining him in trying to make conversation and trying to ease up the atmosphere. Not anymore though. _He was done playing the part, putting on the act, biting his lip-the whole ordeal._

Somewhere in between Marco’s crazy monologue about an experiment they made in science class that day his mother managed to cut in. Gio’s zoning out was too powerful because he only caught what he was guessing was the 3rd “Gio.”

“…Gio.” his mother said in a voice that was trying to be warm. At least she was trying, Gio thought.

He sighed and raised his head. Their deal of not communicating at the table was good. It was working for Gio. He didn’t know why his mother had to ruin that. 

“Yes?” he said softly while putting down his fork. 

He refrained from calling Fabio “dad” so he refrained from calling his mother “mother” too in order to not get any attention from his father over it.

Greta put on a sweet but mostly fake smile and said:

“Honey, your father and I talked and we think you should study whatever makes you happy.”

Her infamous, totally not sincere honey jabbed at Gio’s brain. He hated hearing that word in his mother’s tone. It was like she was draining all the meaning of it. Despite everything his mother probably didn’t want Gio to leave the house so he probably sat down with her husband and had a talk about this. The outcome was that they wouldn’t meddle with Gio’s future plans. Gio knew Fabio wasn’t pleased about this. At least, his mother was putting her foot down from now on (that was a good development).

 _Anyway, he wasn’t asking for their “permission” over this._ What his mother had said really meant nothing to him. He had already decided to ignore what his parents wanted and study politics because that was what he wanted.

So he only nodded and forced a smile then went back to his meal. 

This little convo had made the mood more awkward if that was possible. Now for the first time ever since Gio came back to home Marco wasn’t talking crazily at dinner. The little boy was too focused on his meal too-just stuffing the food into his mouth. 

They were back to their little deal with nobody communicating with Gio and he was totally, absolutely fine with that. He knew this wasn’t what a healthy family relationship looked like but they had passed that threshold long ago even before his father slapped him. So he settled for what he got and just tried to survive in that house while helping Marco.

But of course his father had to broke the deal once again:

“Don’t come at me for money later on.” he said under his breath. His mother was giving her husband snarky looks from the side.

Gio wasn’t planning to. He hadn’t gotten one single euro from his parents ever since he came back from Bracciano. He was living on his savings and money he borrowed from the boys. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer with this. Fabio’s words were only a further reminder. 

He tightened his grip on his fork and tried to focus on eating. He knew he was capable of speaking up to him. Marco knew that too as well as his mother and Fabio. Right now, his plan was to stick by Marco’s side until university and figure out his living situation then. So he didn’t say anything because he didn’t need to, not anymore. 

Giovani knew it didn’t work like that but he really wished Marco could have gotten better parents. He really wished his little brother wouldn't have to deal with the similar shit in the next few years.

At that moment he promised to himself for the millionth time that he would be there for Marco no matter what.

Everybody went back to their meal and the deal was on again. Two minutes later Marco was blabbing excitedly about something else. 

 

* * *

 

 

**Venerdi 16:52-Independence**

Giovanni rubbed his sweaty hands his jeans. He was sitting at a table in their regular cafe as the owner of the cafe sat before him. The previous day when he was there with the boys he saw a _“Help Wanted”_  sign and it felt like an opportunity just landing on him. He was going to be in need of money real soon. There was a job opening in his favorite cafe which was close to the school. He already knew the owner so it was a plus on his side. So, he had stayed a little behind while the boys exited the cafe and asked for an interview for the job.

“Do you have any experience?” The man asked him.

He was in his mid 30s and his name was Diego. Gio always liked him. He would ask Gio and the boys or generally all of his regular customers about school. Basically, he would make nice small talk. He had given them a discount too so Gio’s liking of the man had increased.

“No, but I live on coffee. I know how to do most of them.” Gio replied.

If only he had experience. He had thought about getting a job before too. Every time he got annoyed with his dad he would have this moment of wanting nothing from him so he would occasionally look for a job. But he never actually went through with it until now. 

The man nodded with a smile and Gio took that as a good sign. 

“Let’s see then.” Diego said as he got up and lead Gio to the back of the counter. 

Gio had no chance but follow him while still trying to get the sweat off his hands. The cafe was open so there was already somebody working and taking orders but it wasn’t much crowded so Gio had a place to execute Diego’s instructions. His instructions were to give Gio a couple of coffee types to make. First, it was espresso : so simple. Gio could make that in his sleep. Second, it was cappuccino : simple again. Third, it was mocha : somewhat simple. Then, Diego asked him to do some shapes with the foam which Gio wasn’t good at but Diego encouraged him and said he would get better.  

After all these they were back to the table. 

“I’m impressed.” Diego said with a bigger smile now. “Truthfully, a lot of the people that have worked here didn’t know much before they started. So you are beating everybody and I won’t have to train you much. That’s a very good thing for me.”

Diego was talking as if Gio had definitely got the job but he didn’t want to get ahead of himself. 

“So I got the job?” Gio stated like a question with his head tilted a little.

“You got the job.” Diego said laughing.

 _Suddenly Gio wanted to jump up and down in the middle of the cafe and act like how Marti and Elia did a couple of days ago._ But like a professional he held himself and only said:

“Thank you.” with a big, toothy smile as his leg shook from excitement. 

He was finally starting to be financially independent-that was a big deal for Gio. It meant that he could stop getting money from his friends. No matter how helpful they were and how they weren’t going to accept a payment back they weren’t made out of money either. He was like two days away from draining his savings too.

“You’ll be working part time and we can work around your school schedule.” Diego said as he started to pack the papers on the table. 

The man was really nice. Gio got up when he got up too and they shook hands, like professionals again. Gio’s happiness was probably all over his face but he did not care as he kept on grinning and saying,

“Thank you.” a couple more times.

Diego seemed amused by Giovanni’s eagerness because he was smiling. 

“You can have the employee discount now.” Diego said with a smirk and Gio laughed. 

Once Gio was out on the street it was so hard to he keep himself from just happily shouting out loud. This was another _tangible proof_ that he was slowly cutting away from his family and shaping his own life. Edoardo’s words rang in his mind “ _...they are in no way responsible for the person you are or the person you will be.”_ Now that Gio was no longer depending them for money he resonated with that sentence more. His parents weren’t responsible for the man he was turning out to be. Sure, he was still living in their house and yeah, this wage could only work for him if he was to spend it just on his daily expenses. Still it was a step forward from where he was before. So, that called for a celebration. His new thing was focusing on even the littlest accomplishments.

He took out his headphones from his pocket and played the happiest song he found on his phone. As he skipped through the street he was lip-syncing to the song. He kept skipping until he spotted two familiar figures from the other side of the pavements. _One was a certain yellow-haired Sava and the other his amazing cook best friend._

Giovanni was about to cross the street to greet them with a smile when Filippo grabbed Elia’s hand and gave it a little kiss. Gio stopped in his tracks and watched them hoping they won’t see him. They started to walk hand-in-hand to the opposite direction of where Gio was headed.

 _It all clicked for Gio then_. He no longer needed to keep writing things in his various mental lists called “weird things Elia does”, “weird things Filippo does”, “weird things Elia and Filippo does.”

He decided to stay quiet about this until Elia approached him with his new relationship. There was two things to celebrate now : the fact that he got a job and the fact that his best friend had found someone to make him happy. 

 

* * *

 

  
**Sabato 21:12-How Far We’ve Come**

Gio exited the movie theater holding Eva’s hand. It was their unofficial official date. It wasn’t like one of them asked the other out. After Gio’s success in history they had decided to take few days of break from studying together. Then, they talked about celebrating that success with just the two of them. 

One of the things Gio and Eva used to do when they were dating was to watch really, really bad comedy movies and just have fun with them. It was like the movies were so bad that they were good. Plus, when they were watching it at Eva’s home it would be even more fun with their own commentary. That’s what they did most of the time. _They were a very domestic couple, spending their time together at one of their houses (mostly Eva’s). When they did get out it was generally to the places they always went. Both of them liked the regularity, routine of things._

So, when Gio saw that this really bad American comedy movie was in theaters he suggested seeing that to Eva and she immediately agreed. They had met at the movie theater and to add onto the date vibe Gio suggested buying the tickets because he was the one to kinda invite her. Eva knew her general money problems so she was reluctant but in the end she caved. 

The movies was just for their taste and they watched the whole thing while laughing their asses off. There were a couple of hand holdings and the cliche hand brushing moments while reaching for the popcorn. Gio tried not to get too overwhelmed over those though. He tried directing his focus on the movie. 

They were out in the street when Eva said:

“That movie was so good.” while laughing. 

Gio looked over at her and started to laugh too:

“It was good for us. Did you see that old couple who left the movie halfway?”

Eva started to laugh harder and Gio felt proud for making her laugh.

“I think they were at the wrong movie. Why would two 60 years old choose to come to this one in the first place?”

That was a good point because aside from that old couple everyone else was around Gio and Eva’s age-mostly younger than them. 

“Probably.” Gio replied with a big smile. 

Eva was now clutching onto Gio’s jean jacket with her other hand. Gio tried not looking at it constantly. This was the most physical contact they had ever since they broke up so it was sending all the butterflies to his stomach.

“I really missed watching these kind of movies.” Eva said looking up at him.

“Me too. Nobody appreciates terrible comedy movies like you do.” Gio said smirking at her.

“Yeah, they don’t have any taste.” Eva said smiling big then looking back to the street.   
    
Gio chuckled at that. It was weird that Gio was only realizing how much he had missed Eva as they spent more time together. When he wasn’t seeing her this much he would not thinking about watching bad comedies. But now that they just saw one it was dawning on Gio how much he missed their small ritual. 

They walked a couple of minutes without talking and Gio just took in the peacefulness in. If you had told him three months ago that now he would be walking in the streets with Eva next to him, holding his hand he wouldn’t believe it. He looked down at her red hair which still glistened under the night lamps. 

“I got a job.” he blurted suddenly which made Eva stop walking.

She let go of his hand and walked in front of him. 

“Really?” she asked with her eyes wide open and a smile spreading on her face.

That warm smile caused one to spread on his face too:

“Yes. It’s at Diego’s Coffee.” 

Well, Diego might have been a nice person but he wasn’t so creative. Eva did what Gio wanted to do yesterday as a response and started jumping up and down. Gio watched her as he laughed so hard he was crinkling his eyes. All of a sudden, Eva leaped on to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Gio was frozen for a millisecond but then he wrapped his arms around her waist too. He raised her up a little and she laughed and he laughed with her.

After Gio put Eva down, she slowly started to untangle her arms from around his neck but she placed her hands around his neck instead. Gio gulped and tried to ignore his heart beating so fast that it was about to go out of his chest. She didn’t let go so he didn’t let go of her waist either. He remembered Eleonora’s approval and how he felt like he needed to a move. This was the opportunity; they were literally out on a date. He felt like if he didn’t do something now then things would never start between them again.

So he took a deep breath and slowly leaned in closing his eyes. When their lips met it felt like Gio was on another universe or something. Everything around them slowly disappeared and he was back to two years ago kissing Eva goodbye on the pavement-only everything was better. The kiss was a sweet and warm one. When they pulled apart and Gio opened his eyes he found Eva staring at him while her eyes literally glowed. _Yeah, this time he did everything right._

They stared at each other for a second before going back in for another kiss. The second kiss was a more passionate and longer lasting one. The moment they pulled their lips apart Eva wrapped her arms around Gio’s neck again and buried her face on his shoulder while he hold her tight in a different feeling now. He looked down to see that she was on her tiptoes. It was the cutest sight for Gio : that she needed to get on her tiptoes to reach Giovanni. 

A minute later she pulled apart from the hug so Gio had to let go of her hair that he had been playing with from behind. 

“So we did that.” she said brushing off her hair from her face and looking down.

 _She didn’t seem to regret it but she seemed like she was hesitating and Gio understood her._ The first time around he fucked up everything. Looking back he realized how hard it was for her to deal when they were together. For him, it was hard to deal with when they broke up. He wanted the best for her but he was heartbroken. It wasn’t easy to get over Eva. 

“It’s going to be better this time. I will be better. I promise.” he said in a soft voice while he cupped her face.

She seemed convinced staring at him with her gentle, brown eyes. 

“I will be better too. I promise.” she said in an equally soft and convincing voice.

So there it was Gio was convinced too. They had come true full-circle by growing in their time alone only to find their ways back to each other at the right time. Nothing made him feel more at ease than having Eva back in his life like this. He was going to work so hard, try his hardest to not make any mistakes and if he were to do one he would not lie his way out of them he would come out and apologize. No lying ever, he repeated and repeated to himself.

“We’ve come a long way.” Eva said smiling brightly once again.

“Yeah, we did.” Gio said as he grabbed her hand and lead her back to the streets of Rome. 

_Gio liked to think of them as taking separate roads to find themselves and mature only to find their little roads meeting at a crossroad a few years later._

As they walked Gio thought about all the terrible comedy movies him and Eva were going to watch now that they were together again. He smiled like a little kid. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! I would love to hear your feedback!
> 
> you can talk to me on tumblr : youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com 
> 
> (keep your eyes open for the social media au of chapter 9 on my tumblr)
> 
> I really hope Gio and Eva would come full circle in the show too! I loved their energy together so much!
> 
> Elippo is real!! Woop woop!


	10. Episode 10 : People You Collect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow hello people!
> 
> I know it's been months since I last updated this story. I am really sorry for finishing it this late. I really loved writing a whole season story for Skam Italia with Giovanni, my favourite, as the main. But life happened, I had too much going on, then Skam Italia got cancelled and I lost my desire to write.
> 
> Anyway, I was always eventually gonna finish this story it's like my baby. I don't know if that makes sense to you but I put a lot of work in it and I am really proud of it (despite abandoning it for some time).
> 
> I love Giovanni garau, he is my son and he deserves the best!
> 
> I really loved how this chapter turned out and hope you'll like it too! Also I kinda left some questions about other characters for if I ever want to write another season for another character.
> 
> Please leave a comment and let me hear what you think!

**Domenica 13:24-Saving The World**

Gio was walking on a crowded street near Piazza della Republica*. The street was crowded because it was the day of another protest and they have started to march from the square. This one was climate change and global warming related. Gio, knew the biggest one of these were held on each Friday but Marco had been pestering him to go to any protest really and since another global strike had begun things kinda stretched on to the weekend. 

So, the two brothers had painted a poster that read “There is no planet B.” in black paint with “no" and “B” written in red. It wasn’t the most creative slogan, Gio knew, but it got the message through. They used an old cardboard left in the house probably bought to be used in some kind of school project. (It wasn’t the best looking poster either; for future reference he was going to ask for Nicco’s help.) Out of all the political and social things Gio discussed with Marco lately he seemed to be the most interested in the topic of climate change. That made sense for Gio. Marco’s generation was basically carrying these protests and call for actions. 

Gio had his one arm around Marco’s shoulder to not loose him in the crowd. The younger boy was holding up the poster and chanting whatever the crowd was chanting. He looked so happy being a part of this which in turn obviously made Giovanni happy. 

“Hey, Gio!” Marco said as he slowed down and looked up at his brother. 

“Yeah, buddy.” Gio answered giving a little squeeze to Marco’s right shoulder.

“This is so cool!” Marco shouted somehow managing to drown out other shouts around them. 

Gio put his cocky smile on:

“Of course it is. When have I done something not cool?”

Marco put on a paralleling cocky smile which took Gio back to when he was 13:

“When you cried watching Titanic.” 

Gio smacked Marco on the head, his trademarked big brother move:

“That movie is really emotional. And come talk to when you fall in love!"

As if on cue when Gio finished his sentence Marco pointed to somewhere in front of them, on the left side and yelled:

“Eva!” with a big smile. 

Gio’s eyes followed Marco’s finger and saw Eva’s red hair amongst the crowd. She was wearing her jean jacket with the white interior. Gio was also wearing his version of it; he couldn’t help but smile that they were matching without intending to. He brushed Marco’s arm with his hand to tell him to stay and walked forward. He quickly grabbed Eva’s hand and gave her a little kiss. 

They were still holding hands when they returned to where Marco was standing but they had to let go because Marco rushed over to Eva and hugged her. 

“Next time you break up, I want to keep Eva.” Marco said earning himself a hair ruffle from Eva.

“Maybe there won’t be a next time.” Gio said hitting on Marco’s neck and avoiding looking at Eva.

“Maybe.” Eva said and even though Gio wasn’t looking at her he knew that she was smiling. 

“Works for me.” Marco said before raising up the poster and joining back to the slogans.

Eva reached for Giovanni’s hand and gave it a little squeeze before fully holding it. It meant to Gio more than the maybe. They have been back together for a day and they were still so young but maybe, right? Maybe they wouldn’t break up. After all, Gio could never think that Marti and Nicco will ever break up. So, there could be a chance that him and Eva will never break up too, right?

“You are raising him well.” Eva said laughing showing at a too excited Marco with her head.

“He is my brother.” Gio said shrugging with a smug smile but that smile lasted only so little. “I am a little late but…” he trailed off in the end. 

“He is still young so you are not late.” Eva said energetically, trying to cheer him up, and almost jumping up and down. 

“Yeah.” Gio said smiling. He was the one to gave her hand a little squeeze this time. “Thanks for coming.” he added later.

“I am only here to save the world not for you.” she said looking up at him. Then she let go of Gio’s hand, clasped her two hands together in front of her mouth and started to shout some of the slogans.

Gio laughed throwing his head back:

“Okay, I believe you.” 

Eva started laughing too. Then she got on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Gio’s neck leaning in for a deep kiss. Gio wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back. If there was someone snapping their picture in between all the posters and flags and people shouting and people fighting for what they believe in it would make one hell of a picture. 

“Gross!” They heard Marco yell so they broke apart while giggling. 

Gio had missed hanging out with his brother and Eva. Eva was always so good with Marco and Marco always adored her. There were times Gio even wondered if Marco would like her better as a sister than Gio as a brother. She always knew what to say to him or how to keep him occupied so Eva and Gio could do the things they wanted. 

Eva and Gio shared a look and walked next to Marco, each standing on one side. They walked with the crowd for a while listening to chants and joining in from time to time. Gio always had strong opinions and he would have daily arguments with people but he wasn’t usually a part of something this big. Right now, being with thousands for the same cause he felt more himself than ever. 

A few minutes passed with Gio mostly observing Marco which led to the inevitable question:

“Hey, you got your medicine with you?”

Marco groaned so loudly that Gio heard him over all the noise. 

“Yes. You know I can take care of myself Gio.” Marco said looking up at his brother with a tiny smile but it wasn’t said in an annoyed or angry tone. It was more like a message to Gio saying that he’ll be fine no matter what Gio does with his own life. 

“We know that buddy.” Eva chimed in with a smile that was send to Gio and a little side huge that was given to Marco.

“Then, you can tell Martino and Elia to stop texting me, asking me how I’m doing.” Marco said this time with the annoyed tone.

Gio didn’t know that the two boys did that. He had no idea how he missed that or when he started sharing his place of being the mom friend. A smile spread through his face. The boys were the best the last two weeks yet they were still out besting themselves at being the best. The fact that they checked up on Marco regularly as if he was their own little brother was just so thoughtful and made Gio a bit emotional.

“I’ll talk to them and tell them you are big boy now.” Eva replied once again instead of him because Gio was walking silently with a smile on his face. 

“Thanks.” Marco said totally missing the sarcastic tone at the ‘big boy’. 

Then, she reached over from the back of Marco to touch Gio’s arm which made him turn to her. He smiled at Eva and nodded mouthing ‘thank you’. She really knew what to say to the younger boy.

Sure, he had the contrabbandieri as a family and then the whole crew as the big family but this right here Marco and Eva was his nuclear family. 

 

* * *

 

**Martedi 19:18-Double Date**

 

Gio, Eva, Marti and Nicco were out on a double in a cafe that wasn’t too fancy but still somewhere they could have a good dinner. It was really nice and surprising how quickly (in four days to be exact) Eva and him fall into a routine and started doing all the couple things. 

After they shared those pics on Instagram after their date Marti’s been all over them asking to schedule a double date. It almost felt like he was happier than Gio and Eva that they were back together. Gio found it all very amusing (and cute). Back in the days, Marti was third wheeling and until very recently, Gio was third wheeling. Aside from these all of them had other problems and issues. But now, they were all somewhat content with their lives. So, the whole evening felt like a breeze.

“Because of you two...” Marti said pointing between Eva and Gio. “…I lost 50 euros.” 

Eva and Gio shared a looked with each other then they started laughing. 

“That’s for the time you walked in on us in Bracciano.” Eva said winking at Gio probably to remind him what they were up to then (as if Gio could forget)

“And I’m offended you trusted us so little Marti.” Gio said fake pouting. 

Marti groaned and Nicco stepped in putting a hand on Marti’s shoulder:

“In my boyfriend’s defence he thought you would get back together this week. So like yesterday.”

“Fine he is forgiven.” Eva said with a little grin.

“But he still lost 50 euros.” Gio added on while laughing.

Marti flipped them both of while the couple just kept on laughing and they got Nicco to join in their laughs. It was always the best messing with Marti. Now that Eva was in on it with him Gio was enjoying it more. Their laughs had to die off because the waiter had come to their table carrying a huge tray that barely fit four plates. Nicco had ordered a burrito, Marti had ordered fried chicken, Gio had ordered a cheeseburger and Eva had ordered carbonara. All four of them were so hungry that the minute their plates touched the table they started to eat it. After everybody had two bites of their meals they all looked at each other and started laughing. 

“This is the fault of the school cafeteria. We are all living on shitty food and coffee all day.” Gio said stuffing his mouth with fries. (Two weeks ago he was almost exclusively living on coffee but that was all in the past now-somewhat.)

“I second that.” Marti said taking a couple of Gio’s fries.

“Everything is always so oily.” Eva said making a disgusted face which spread a smile through Gio’s face.

“Yeah. That reminds me I should make you my famous carbonara. It is in no way disgusting.” Nicco said with a small giggle looking at Marti’s way.

Giovanni and Eva turned their heads to each other totally missing the inside joke. Gio guessed that this was a story from early on in Marti and Nicco's relationship because that’s where he knew the least. 

“Oh, it is disgusting. I won’t have them go through it.” Marti said laughing and shaking his head. 

“You are such a good friend.” Gio said extending his right fist, the one not holding a cheeseburger, over the table to Marti. 

For the next ten minutes they ate their meals and chatted lightly about their friends, school, the film Nicco is working on and so on. Gio was thinking about turning this into a regular thing-maybe once a week or once every two weeks. Everything was just nice (he didn’t know how else to describe it) with Eva’s hand on his leg and Nicco telling an embarrassing story of Marti with Marti keeping glancing at him smiling. 

“Next time, these two drag you to that empty pool let me know too.” Eva said with a smirk. 

“Or while they are hanging in a waterless, old pool we can do something better.” Nicco said with a paralleling smirk resting his head on his hand. 

“I like that idea more.” Eva said turning to Gio.

Gio threw his hands up playfully:

“Okay, you used to like that place.” he said to Eva. “And you just learned how to skateboard.” he said to Nicco.

“I don’t know if we can say he learned it.” Marti said with a cheeky smile and raised eyebrows. 

Eva and Gio both made a loud ‘ooooh’ noise while Nicco turned away in fake angry way. Marti put on his most charming smile:

“Just kidding. You are even better than me.” he said trying to kiss Nicco on the cheek.

After two tries Marti succeeded and he first kissed Nicco on the cheek then put his left hand on his boyfriend’s cheek giving him a little kiss. Eva and Gio smiled at the sight, at how in love their friend was, at how much things have changed for the better in the past two years where they went from a trio to a four-io. But they also without sharing a look, almost like a reflex, started to scan the room for anybody who might give them dirty looks. Gio knew, he couldn’t be too careful. So, he tried his best to make Nicco and Marti feel comfortable whenever they were out. 

“And I never liked that place, Garau.” Eva said when the other couple pulled apart. 

In hindsight, Gio knew that because well he used to drag Eva to places without really asking her if she wanted to come. That was the old Giovanni though. 

“I know, Brighi.” Gio said with a sweet smile that reflected on Eva’s face too. 

Gio put this on a list in his mind about things to talk to Eva about how he wasn’t going to be like the last time. 

“Are those your new pet names because it’s not very original.” Marti said laughing.

“And what does Nicco call you? Marti? Something that everybody else calls you.” Gio said with his one eyebrow raised meaning ‘you don’t want to mess with me’. 

“I call him other things in the bedroom too.” Nicco answered instead with a wink. 

“Gross.” Gio and Eva said at the same time which sent a collective laugh over the table. 

“Too much information guys.” Gio said shaking his head. 

Half this dinner went with everybody on the table messing with everybody else and Gio couldn’t have asked for a better night-literally. 

The night ended with them scheduling the next double date and the one after that. As Gio left the restaurant holding Eva’s hand and ruffling Marti’s hair with his other hand and sharing a look and a laugh with Nicco he had this warm feeling in his stomach. It was like everything was how it was meant to be. 

* * *

 

**Mercoledi 17:02-Testifying?**

 

Gio was at a cafe, the one Ele took them to last week, with Eva and all the girls, Luca and Edoardo. They connected two rectangular tables together for all of them to fit. He was sitting next to Eva, who was at the corner, with Luca and Silvia next to him. On the other side was Sana, Federica then Ele and Edoardo. Ele and Edoardo had come in about twenty minutes ago and the group were waiting for them to get their orders except Luca who was starving so he had bought a sandwich. He gave half of it to Silvia because as he would later say to Gio, he was a good boyfriend. 

The moment Ele and Edoardo walked in and took their places in the table Giovanni noticed that a weird silence fell over the girls. Eva straightened up in her chair and let go of Gio’s hand. Gio watched her eye Ele from top to bottom then he saw her glance at the other girls who were basically doing the same thing. So, he tried to figure out what was going on too buy looking at Edoardo who had tense shoulders and a tight chin. 

“So…” Sana started then paused abruptly. “…did you decide what you are gonna do?”

Something was definitely up and the boys were out of the loop. Luca must have noticed the atmosphere they could cut with a knife too because he had stopped eating and was watching the conversation go.

Ele shifted in her seat and gave out a deep breath. She then looked over at Edoardo who quickly dropped his shoulders and gave Ele a tiny nod and what Gio thought to be a reassuring smile. Eleonora, nodded back and looked away, probably avoiding eye contact with anybody on the table: 

“I will testify. I want to testify.” she gave out another deep breath in the end. The second sentence sounded more like she was trying to convince herself. 

Testifying, courthouse, a case… That was where it all clicked for Gio. It must be about whatever happened with Edoardo’s brother last spring. Gio was still missing all the details. Up until like two months ago he never actually had a good conversation with Ele and he wasn’t with Eva back then (though, he didn’t think Eva would give her every detail about what her best friend went through anyway). Sure, the girls and the contrabbandieri and the villa boys were a huge group of friends but this was something private of Eleonora. 

“Well, we support you 100% Ele. We are with you.” Eva said with a warm smile. 

Ele only shook her head up and down with a tiny smile. Gio caught Edoardo squeeze Ele’s hand over the table. 

“Whatever you feel comfortable with is the right thing and you have us all the way.” Sana said with an equally warm smile which made Gio think that those two had long conversation about this topic.

“No matter what happens.” Silvia added with a soft voice.

Federica reached over and gave Ele side hug and said:

“Always.” 

Ele leaned onto Fede and wrapped her one arm around her. 

“I know. Thank you.” she said quietly. 

Gio knew he had to say something. After all, him and Ele were friends now-friends that understood each other because they were similar. Especially, after how much Ele gave her advice over the last few weeks he felt like he needed to do the same. But, he was truly at lost for words. Nothing he said could have made it better and the girls already said everything. While he was trying to form a sentence Luca beat him up to it:

“We got you too. “ Luca said while gesturing at himself and Gio with huge moves and with a big smile that was so Luca.

In response Ele’s smile grew a tiny bit. Gio was so focused on how much happened in his life that he forgot to appreciate how much Luca has changed and grown too. He proudly looked over his best friend first. Then, he gave Luca a pat on the shoulder and turned to Ele:

“We are a big family after all.” he said moving his eyes from Eleonora to Edoardo who seemed more relaxed with Gio’s words.

Edoardo sent an appreciative nod at his way and Eleonora an appreciative look. Now, a somewhat more comfortable silence fell over the group. About three minutes passed like that until Ele suddenly stood up drawing a bunch of worried eyes on her.

“Aren’t we here for the coffee? Come on. I’ll get it for everyone.” she said-Gio guessed to show the others that she was fine. 

Edo quickly risen up too: 

“I’ll get-

But Ele pushed him down:

“I can do it.” she said sounding more cheerful than how she was looking.

That was the moment Gio realized he could do some little thing to help and at least have a conversation with Eleonora.

“I’ll come with you.” he said while getting up.

He looked over at Edoardo and shook his head up and down and blinked meaning ‘I have got her.’ Next to him, Eva looked up at him with thankful eyes so he stroked her back. Then, Gio proceeded to take everybody’s order and collect the money with Ele’s help.

They gave the barista their eight orders who just smiled and started preparing the coffees. Giovanni felt sympathetic towards the guy. He was a barista now too and eight orders at a time sounded like a nightmare. After paying they walked from the counter to the point to wait. 

Gio thought the perfect moment to talk to Ele was then, when they were waiting for their orders. He coughed to get her attention:

“Hey, Ele.” he started off (kind of weirdly with his hands in his jean’s pockets). “You tried to help me a lot and I didn’t even know what was going on with you. I am really sorry.” he ended with a tiny smile. 

“You are such a mom friend.” she said shaking her head side to side. “But don’t. How could you have known? Nobody told you any of this, any of what happened.” 

She was right yet Gio wanted to do something in this messed up situation:

“Still, if there is anything I can do let me know.” he said with a slight smile.

Eleonora nodded with a sigh and looked over at their table. Gio followed her eyes and saw that they landed on Edoardo. Of course she was still concerned about him. 

“Actually, can you keep an eye on Edoardo? He is not taking all of this well and I’m afraid he is going to do something stupid to his own-“ she cut herself and sighed again. “…you know.”

Gio knew. From the talks he had with Edoardo he knew just how he felt about his family and especially his brother. 

“I will.” Gio said determinedly. “Don’t worry. I won’t let him do anything stupid.” he emphasized every word to show his promise. 

And he was going to stay true to his promise. The last thing Eleonora needed was to have Edo get in trouble. Also, Edo was Gio’s friend now too so in no way he would let one of his good friends to get in trouble.

“Thank you.” Ele said with a smile while watching Edoardo again who just then spotted her and gave her a tiny smile. 

A minute later their names were called so Gio picked four of the cups with a tray and Ele got the four others. When they arrived at the table Silvia and Luca were excitedly telling a story about Luca’s dog which was definitely a move to distract Ele and Edo. 

Gio sat down stroking Eva’s back again who looked at her with the same thankful eyes but mouthing ‘Thank you.’ this time. He squeezed her shoulder before sitting down and joining back to the conversation. 

Just like he had the contrabbandieri, Eva and the girls, Edo and the villa boys; Eleonora and Edoardo had them too. Now that Gio was better himself he was back on his full-time duty of being a mom friend and he promised himself to take care of the broken couple sitting opposite of him.

 

* * *

 

**Giovedi 15:21-Shift**

 

Gio was at the school gate, their designated place, hanging with the boys after classes. It was a sunny winter afternoon. They were soaking up the last sun rays before the weather got colder. 

Gio had his jean jacket on and a zipped hoodie with long sleeve underneath it. He had his backpack on too and was holding onto its straps. Elia had a t-shirt on and sure, it wasn’t that cold but Elia standing there with a t-shirt was kind of insane. He was about to hit Elia on the arm or head and give Elia his own jacket or hoodie. Marti and Luca were dressed like Gio-not too much but still something to not make them cold on a 12 degree weather. Well, Luca had a dark green beanie on which admittedly wasn’t necessary but Silvia apparently got it for him yesterday so he didn’t take it off the whole day.

“Dude, isn’t your head boiling?” Elia asked reaching for Luca’s head but Luca was quick and he managed to step aside almost tackling Marti down. Marti grumpyly laughed and pushed Luca back to his spot. 

Gio laughed and pulled Elia back by his shoulders:

“And aren’t you freezing?” he said shaking Elia under his hold. 

“When you are this hot you are never freezing.” Elia said cockily and the boys groaned at his terrible joke. 

“Maybe Luca is a lot but you are more crazy standing there with the thinnest t-shirt ever.” Marti said ignoring Luca who was protesting to ‘being a lot’ by throwing his hands up. 

“I almost missed my bus this morning so I forgot to that blue sweatshirt on the couch.” Elia said. It felt like he was averting his eyes from the rest of the group or perhaps Gio had started to imagine things. 

“My sweatshirt?” Gio asked hesitantly, trying to question Elia a bit more. 

Elia turned to him with a confused look and he shook his head up and down while running a hand through his hair. That was the Elia sign of being caught-Gio knew it too well.

“Yeah, yeah. The light blue one. Right, that was yours. I was going to bring it today.” Elia said shuffling in his place.

Giovanni had forgotten his sweather at Elia’s on Monday when he slept over there. He was back at home, at his parents’ home, still he was staying at one of the boy’s once or twice a week. His parents were okay with that because well, they didn’t have any other chance or any other grounds to argue with their oldest son.

“No it’s okay. I figured I was going to crash at yours again so I would get it sometime.” Gio said shrugging with a smile.

Ever since Gio saw Elia and Filippo together and found out that they were dating, he guessed, he was trying to pick up the clues more and more. It was hard to keep the balance because he didn’t want to push Elia too much but he still wanted to know some things. Of course, he wasn’t going to outright confront Elia. The best thing to do was to wait for Elia to come to him when he wants to talk about it. Yet, he wanted to know how his best friend was doing.

Elia smiled back at him before quickly turning his attention to Marti and Luca who were in their own conversation. 

“Setle something for us.” said Luca while Marti was facepalming. “Which one of us could play a lead role in any movie?”

Elia and Gio shared a little look smiling. 

“Neither of you.” Gio said wondering the root of this convo.

“Remember that time on holiday we needed to pretend like we were 18 years old to get into that seaside bar and you two absolutely failed it.” Elia said adding on with a laugh.

“Hey! I was good.” said Marti loudly.

“No!” Gio and Elia said at the same time and they bursted out laughing. 

Marti flipped them off and Luca threw an arm around Marti's shoulder as if to console him which only made Gio and Elia laugh more. 

“Why are you suddenly questioning your acting abilities?” Gio asked leaning against the wall. 

“I made the mistake of telling him that Nicco was searching for people to play in his new short.” Marti said rolling his eyes with a smile.

“No offence Marti, I know Nicco loves you but he wouldn’t cast you in his movie.” Elia said still laughing. “And definitely not you too Luchino.” Elia finished sending a look at Gio’s way.

“But he can cast me. I know I look great on camera.” Gio said winking and then trying to do a cool pose.

“You have been hanging with Elia a lot.” Luca clapped back with a smirk referring to the fact that how Elia was always so aware of how he looked and was always so loud about it. 

This time Luca, Marti and even Gio bursted out laughing while Elia flipped them off-with both hands. When their laughs died off Marti asked the inevitable question:

“So what are we doing?” he looked at all three boy’s faces.

“Gitoni?” Luca asked with a tiny shrug.

“Can’t do guys.” Giovanni answered with a sort of fake pout. 

He checked the time on his phone (now had a new lock screen of Eva from the day before). If he left right about now he would be at Diego’s just in time for his shift. When he raised his head up from his phone he saw that Marti, Elia and Luca were watching him with furrowed eyebrows. Once Gio realized why they all looked so concerned he immediately shook his hands in front of him:

“I’m not running away. I have a shift.” he cleared with a small smile and a convincing nod. 

The other three boys made a collective ‘Oh.’ sound that meant that they understood their failed assumption. 

“And I have to leave right now. Can’t be late on my first week.” Gio said smiling with a crunched up nose.

His statement led to an absolute cacophony from the boys which Gio didn’t anticipate. They were jumping up and down as if they were at a football game. They were shouting Gio’s name and “Garauuuuu” at the top of their longs while clapping with their hands. This was their move now as contrabbandieri apparently : cheering on one of their own loud enough to make the whole school or wherever they were at look at them. Honestly, it made Gio happy that despite everything that had happensx over the last two and a half months they were still the same, they were still drawing attention without caring about it. 

“Okay, enough enough.” Gio said laughing and for some chance they followed his words.

He gave each of them hugs and handshakes in between laughs. They were still cheering on but thankfully it was quieter now. When it was Marti’s turn to say goodbye Gio kind of took him aside and said:

“If you guys are going somewhere can you text Edoardo too?” Without giving Marti an opportunity to ask more questions Gio added, “We should keep an eye on him through this.”

Marti sighed and nodded understandingly. He then, squeezed Gio’s shoulder to which Gio replied with a small smile. 

As he was walking away they started to shouting his name again so Gio turned around to give them a wave. He finally turned around and got on his way only for Elia to shout:

“World’s best baristaaaa!” 

Gio laughed shaking his head and thinking about what he must have done right in his life to have these guys on his corner.

* * *

 

**Venerdi 16:58 - Mr.Director and Mr.Barista**

 

Gio was at another shift at Diego’s Coffee. He was about to finish his first week there and honestly it wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. The transition from going skateboarding or playing zitoni or playing football to having to work was kind of a bummer but he was gaining his own money so overall it was a win. 

He was good at making any type of coffee; especially at making espresso, cappuccino and lungo. But, he still wasn’t good at very specific orders. Like if somebody ordered at a cup of coffee at  some degree or if somebody wanted whatever percent milk he would mess it up. It had only been one week and according to Diego and other baristas, his co-workers which felt weird saying, he was better than the most. 

As it was Friday today had been a little hectic. He was taking in order after order and occasionally swapping places with his co-worker, Pietro, to clean tables or collect the empty cups and plates. He knew some of the people that came by (at least by name or just their faces) because the little cafe was close to school. 

One of the people that was there that day was someone he knew too well : Nicco. He came in about an hour ago, ordered a cappucino and a cheese & ham sandwich. They only shared some small talk because both of them were busy, there were two people behind Nicco waiting to give their orders and Nicco needed to work on his project. As Gio moved on to the next customer he saw Nicco settle into a desk by the wall, in the back corner. 

So, the moment Gio got himself a break he grabbed a brownie and two forks. Then he made his way to Nicco’s table with a smile.

“Care to join me for a break Mr. Director?” He said sitting down across Nicco. 

Nicco who was swamped in papers peeled his eyes from his computer with a smile:

“How can I say no?” he said smirking. 

Nicco pushed away his papers a little and made a deck of them on the side of the table so that Giovanni could put the plate in between them. Gio gave one of the forks to Nicco. Then, he counted from three to one. The second he hit to one the two of them attacked the brownie and absolutely destroyed it in a minute. 

“I needed that.” Nicco said leaning back on his chair.

“Same here.” Gio said chewing his last piece. 

Giovanni’s phone that was on the table beeped at that second revealing Gio’s wallpaper of Eva. Nicco’s eyes looked down to the screen involuntarily and Gio saw a smirk appear on his friend’s face.

“I’m so happy that you and Eva are back together. I was so close to creating a scheme.” Nicco said with a wink.

“Our schemes-your schemes are not known to be really that successful.” Gio said laughing.

“That’s why I am happy you didn’t need my help.” Nicco answered laughing as well. After about a minute of pause he continued, “And Marti’s super relieved that you and Eva are back together because you know…” he finished trailing off.

“I know?” Gio questioned with a scowl. Marti looked happy for him and Eva especially at their little double date despite losing money to Elia but Nicco saying relieved and cutting off his sentence seemed weird. 

“Yeah I mean after everything you went through. Now you are fine and all.” Nicco said almost kind of panicked but Gio decided not to dwell on it too much. Nicco didn’t give him a chance to dwell on it either. “And how’s work going? Too tiring?” he asked abruptly. 

Suddenly, Nicco seemed much more normal so Gio had no chance but to answer with a smile shaking his head to the side:

“I miss playing FIFA or gitoni everyday but it feels good to do something and to be able to save some money, you know?”

“I know. And Marti misses playing FIFA with you. He tried playing with me the other day and he complained the whole time about how I wasn’t a ‘worthy opponent.’” Nicco said making air quotes around the last part. 

“He’s right. You can’t play FIFA to save your life.” Gio said laughing which earned him a flip off from Nicco. “You are good at gitoni though. I’ll give you that.” Gio finished still laughing hard.

“Thank you. Anyway…” Nicco said rolling his eyes with a smile. “…you should come around soon.”

“I will try to as soon as possible.” Gio answered nodding to show his promise. “How’s school going? Too tiring?” He then asked paralleling Nicco’s previous inquiry with a smile.

“Yeah sometimes it’s tiring like right now.” Nicco said his smile faltering a little-something that Gio didn’t miss.

“I can see.” Gio said pointing at the loose papers all over the table. “But...don’t forget to take care of yourself.” He added gently. Giovanni didn’t need to explain what he meant, Nicco knew. 

“I won’t.” Nicco promised nodding with a soft smile just like Gio did a minute ago.

They looked at each other smiling in the noise of the cafe for some time. Then, Nicco suddenly cleared his throat as if he was going to move on to a more serious subject. 

“I think Marti is going to have this talk with you…” Nicco paused and looked at Gio who must have had a really confused face. "…probably tomorrow at the party but I just wanted to say you are welcome at our house anytime. And you can stay as long as you want. Always.” 

Gio thought he was done getting emotional by the words of his friends but here he was again with a huge smile spreading over his face and his eyes glistening. It was not like Nicco or the others had nothing but still they were offering every little thing they had to Giovanni. Elia was putting half of his allowance to Gio’s pockets or bags thinking Gio wasn’t noticing. Every day Luca was bringing Gio food that his mother made. Marti acted like practically everything he owned was Gio’s (ever since they knew each other). Now, Nicco was saying this. And not to forget Edoardo who opened his house to him too and the girls who came by yesterday and left a huge tip. And Eva with her encouraging little text and smiles she shot his way and how she wasn’t expecting anything big from him and the way she still helped him study and everything else. 

Gio blinked a few times and let out a small appreciative chuckle:

“I-I know that. Thank you.” 

Nicco shrugged like it wasn’t a big thinking which made Gio appreciate him even more. 

“Contrabbandieri for life, right?” Nicco said with a big smile. 

“Right.” Gio said showing the same smile on his face while extending his fist over the table for a fist bump. Nicco reached in and accepted Gio’s fist bump.

“Speaking of contrabbandieri…” Nicco started to talk as he look around. “…do you think Elia’s been acting strange lately?”

With that flashing alarms went through Gio’s head. He thought he was the only one to notice but apparently not. If Nicco was asking though, that meant he didn’t know about Elia and Filippo. If he knew like Gio did he would understand the reason behind the strangeness. No matter how much Nicco would support Elia too it wasn’t Gio’s place to tell him. So he opted for just agreeing with Nicco.

“He seems a bit strange, yeah.” Gio said nodding. 

As if on cue Filippo entered the cafe with Eleonora and Martino following behind. When Gio saw Filippo he chuckled to himself feeling like his life was turning into a movie : this much coincidence was too much. 

“Mr.Barista, hello.” Filippo said opening his arms with a big smile as he approached their table. 

When he came close Gio recognized that Filippo was wearing a blue sweatshirt. Or more spesifically Gio’s blue sweatshirt that he left over at Elia’s. First, Gio tried to read Marti’s face to see if he had spotted this earlier too but the boy seemed to show nothing. Then, Gio and Nicco shared a glance that made Gio question whether or not Nicco just now realized Elia and Filippo too. But he had to go back to a normal face to not give everything away. So he patted Filippo on the shoulder over his own sweatshirt, then as Marti and Nicco shared a kiss he gave Ele a little hug. She looked somewhat better; a tiny bit of color had started to show on her face again. 

Gio clapped his hands together: 

“What can I get you?” he asked with a smile. After he got their orders, before going to get the coffees ready (and a surprise cookie for Ele because she deserved it) he turned to Filo with a smirk, “Nice sweatshirt.” Gio said. 

Filo looked down at himself as if he was just realizing what he was wearing and visibly panicked before trying to act subtle and saying:

“Thank you.” 

Gio could have a little fun with this information he had. 

 

* * *

 

**Sabato 21:28-People You Collect**

 

Gio and Eva were on the bed in Marti and Nicco’s spare room. Eva was almost under Gio and she had her arms wrapped around his neck as she ran a hand through his curly hair. Gio’s hand was trailing under Eva’s body touching her back, her arm, her neck, her face. Gio brushed Eva’s hair out of her face and leaned in for a deep kiss. They broke apart for a second so he moved onto her neck and gave her a couple of kisses there, the ones that wouldn’t leave a mark. The two were about to kiss again but Eva put a hand on Gio’s chest:

“Should we be doing this here? Marti might freak.” Eva said smiling softly. 

“They are lucky we are not doing it on their bed and they have done worse in Bracciano.” Gio said with a grin.

“Payback then.” Eva said as she pulled Gio in for another deep kiss that went on for a long time. 

If they weren’t already kissing Gio would give Eva a thousand more kisses for saying ‘payback’. He couldn’t believe how long he had survived without Eva’s touch on his body, without her lips on his lips. He also couldn’t believe that he was actually making out with Eva again right now, after everything. 

When they finally stopped Gio started unbuttoning his blue shirt with Eva’s help. He then threw it over to the ground. Eva wrapped her legs around him. 

“I missed you.” Gio said as he played with Eva’s long hair.

“We see each other every day.” she said giggling. 

“No.” Gio said softly. “I missed you.” he then whispered. He did his best to emphasize ‘you’ with a mischievous smile hoping Eva would get what he meant. He had missed this, their bedroom moments, more than he could explain or describe. 

“Oh.” Eva replied with a realization sound. “I missed you too.” she whispered back literally pulling him down. As their lips were about to meet the door flung open. 

“NO! Gio. Eva. Fuck. No!” Marti said groaning. Honestly, Gio should have seen this coming with the late coincidence luck he had. 

Gio dropped down to his back next to Eva as she burst into a laughter. Marti was half covering his eyes still standing at the door. 

“Come on! You have seen worse.” Gio said grabbing his shirt from the floor. Marti had walked in on him and Eva multiple times in further bases and also on him and Sophia last year. Marti would say that Gio had traumatized him. 

“Yes! And I can’t forget those images.” Marti said throwing his back with another groan. 

“Gio says you did worse than this in Bracciano.” Eva said straightening up but still laughing hard. 

“No, we did not.” Marti said going in full defense.

“I’m talking about last August, the last trip before school started.” Gio said shaking his finger at Marti. “Yeah, we know. We heard.” Gio said with a similar groan as Marti stood there speechless and a little embarrassed. Gio absolutely loved messing with Marti but this time he had coming. They were so loud that Gio, Elia and Luca had to sleep outside. Maybe Marti had traumatized Gio too. 

Eva jumped up from the bed and stood next to Gio grabbing on his right arm. She said trying to hold his laughter:

“This is for the time you walked in on us when he was about to go down-

“Okay, no no! I don’t want to remember that.” Marti said closing his ears as not to hear what Eva was saying. 

“What’s the matter aren’t you happy your parents are back together?” Gio said sharing a look with Eva and joining in her laughter. Messing with Marti from now on with Eva was ten times better. 

“Never call yourselves that again.” Marti said rolling his eyes. “And of course I am happy. I am really happy that you are back together. You have no idea.” Marti said getting a bit serious and lowering his voice through the end. 

Gio could swear he saw Marti and Eva share a look. His mind went to yesterday when Nicco told Gio about how much Marti was relieved that him and Eva were back together. 

“I am so happy for all the double dates and the fact that I can now gang up on you two with Nicco. It’s gonna be perfect.” Eva said smiling looking back and forth between Gio and Marti. 

She then pulled the two boys by their arms and into a little hug. Just like that Gio was transformed to two years ago to the summer she started dating Eva. To the time when he thought he was a good boyfriend, when he wasn’t following what he wanted; when Eva didn’t have friends of her own, when she felt insecure; when Marti wasn’t out, when he hadn’t discovered himself; when they all hadn’t grown up. Even then, even if they weren’t the best version of themselves the three of them felt like a tiny family to Gio. It felt so nice for Gio to have this back. 

As they broke the hug apart girls’ laughter and shouts were heard from the living room. 

“We are wanted at the party.” Eva said with a smile. 

Then, she got up on her tiptoes and gave Giovanni a kiss on his cheek. Gio couldn’t help but smile widely as he watched Eva leave the room. He was pretty sure he looked starstruck but he didn’t care. (And he truly felt starstruck at everything Eva did.)

Marti clapped his hands in front of Gio’s face to get his attention which resulted in both of them going into a laughter fit. Once they were done laughing Marti started to talk with a grin:

“Out of everywhere in the house I am glad you did whatever you did on your bed.” 

“My bed? Come on Elia and Luca sleeps here just as much.” Gio answered laughing.

Marti rolled his eyes with an even bigger grin now:

“No, Gio this is your bed. Whenever you want it.” 

Once again what Martino said totally went over Gio’s head. His best friend had especially stressed the words ‘your bed’ but still Gio thought it just meant as a guest. He had stayed there so many times sometimes two nights consecutively even before the whole drama with his parents. 

“I know you are not ready to move out from your parents’ house and there is the Marco factor. But whenever you feel ready, this is your room.” Marti explained softly with his grin turned into a warm smile.

Gio remembered his talk with Nicco. How Nicco told him about a conversation Marti was going to have with him and how he was welcomed at their house as long as he wanted. That’s when he finally realized what Marti was saying. He was basically offering Gio a new, permanent home. 

Instead of answering with words Gio threw himself over at Marti who stumbled backwards with Gio’s impact. Giovanni wrapped hims arms tightly around Marti with his one hand patting Marti on the head while Marti hugged him back tightly too. 

“I take this as a yes.” Marti said into the hug. 

“Thank you.” Gio answered back trying hard not to let his voice shake. 

“Come on, let’s get something to drink.” Marti said pulling Gio out the door.

In his mind, Giovanni was grateful to his six-year-old self for befriending Martino years ago.

Their next step was the kitchen. After getting himself a beer from the fridge and one for Nicco, Marti left to find his boyfriend. On his way out Marti gave Gio a small side hug and a pat on the shoulder to Luca who was already in the kitchen when they came.

Gio raised his beer towards Luca and they clinked their bottles together. Then, each of the boys proceeded to take a big sip from their drinks.

“So when are we having a double date?” Gio asked putting on his sweet smile. 

He might have dreaded the idea of double dating with Luca and Silvia just like Marti and Nicco did but he was Gio so he would do anything to make Luca happy. As for Luca he almost spit out his drink from the excitement of it all.

“Whenever you want! I have so many ideas!” Luca said smiling.

“We should ask Eva and Silvia too. They might have some inputs about your ideas.” Gio said shaking his head with a smile. 

“So they wouldn’t like the idea of laser tag?” Luca asked with a doubting tone.

 Gio was expecting a truly crazy idea but laser tag sounded sane and fun enough. Also, Gio could see Eva and Silvia enjoy something like that too. 

“That’s actually not a bad idea. But it would be much more fun if we were crowded.” Gio said nodding.

“Are you saying A TRIPLE DATE?” Luca basically shouted causing Gio to startle and almost drop down his bottle.

Giovanni pushed down on Luca’s shoulder to get him to calm down. 

“I am saying even more. We can invite Ele and Edo too.” Giovanni laughing hoping Luca wouldn’t shout again. 

Luca did not yell instead jumped on Gio and made him spill a bit of beer onto both of them. Gio rolled his eyes endearingly and laughed. 

“Okay, calm down.” Gio said hitting Luca on the head.

He then put down his bottle on the counter and shook his hands to get rid of the beer drops. 

“It’s going to be so fun!” Luca said trying to keep quiet. 

Gio couldn’t help but laugh again. There was a moment where he called out Luca for being too much like a kid that Gio regretted a lot. Normally, he didn’t feel like that though. Luca’s energy, excitement and all around naivete always had an effect of making Gio happy. Giovanni had promised himself not to act towards Luca like he was a kid because he didn’t deserve that also Luca had an unconventional wiseness at times too.

“Yeah it WILL BE!” Gio said joining in Luca’s enthusiasm. 

The two of them laughed for a minute until Silvia entered the kitchen skipping. 

“I was looking for you.” she said walking over to Luca and giving him a tiny peck. 

Gio watched his friends with a big smile on his face. 

“Well, I am here.” Luca said in a happy tone wrapping one arm around Silvia’s waist. 

“Hi, Gio.” Silvia said leaning on to Luca.

“Hi, Sil.” Gio greeted her raising his almost finished (and some spilled) beer bottle. 

“So you want to go dance?” Silvia asked smiling at Luca.

“Of course. Let’s own the dance floor!” Luca said jumping up in the end. 

Silvia looked at her boyfriend and laughed. Gio was easily seeing the fondness in Silvia's eyes. It was as if she was saying ‘he is so stupid but he is mine’ which was a sentiment he was used to seeing in Eva’s eyes too. 

“You should come to the dance floor too!” Silvia said turning to Gio.

“I will but after you guys.” Gio replied just before she left the room. 

Luca was about to follow her out the door too but Gio stopped him with his words. 

“You are doing really good, Luca.” he said with a smile. 

Just two months ago Luca was nervously asking them how to ask Silvia to dance and now they have been dating since then with Silvia asking him to dance. It made Gio the happiest. 

The biggest smile spread through Luca’s face understanding Gio’s thoughts. Then, he turned around and followed Silvia almost running. 

Two minutes later Gio left the kitchen too with a tray in his hands. He had put two beers, two lemonades and a bowl filled with chips on the tray. He made his way into the living room where everybody was. Gio’s eyes caught Eva dancing with Marti and Nicco so he smiled at the sight. Silvia and Luca had already taken their rightful place on the dance floor too. Luca was doing some crazy dance move and Silvia was giggling at the sight. 

Sana and Federica were the closest to him so he went over to them holding the tray waiter style-from underneath it with his palm open.

“Ladies!” he said smiling big and extending the tray to them.

Federica grabbed one of the beers and Sana grabbed one of the lemonades. As Sana picked up her drink she gave Gio an appreciative smile because he had managed to remember to bring in something other than alcohol too. Admittedly, Gio wasn’t the best always about Sana with his ill-made jokes but he was trying to be thoughtful (not that he thought he should be applauded for basic human behavior). 

“Are you enjoying the party?” Gio asked settling into his role as a waiter.

“Not the best one we have been.” Sana said wtih a small smirk.

“But it works.” Federica completed her with a similar smirk. 

“Well, it’s their party.” Gio said pointing at Nicco and Marti who were just kissing at that moment. 

“I see they are busy with something else.” Federica said laughing.

“Next time I will be on the organization team too.” Gio said grabbing a few of the chips he was holding. 

“Does that mean the party will be better or worse?” Sana said joining in on Fede’s laugh. 

“Better!” Gio shouted walking away laughing. 

He put down the tray on the nearest table and grabbed one of the beers. He started drinking by himself watching the room. It was their combined group with a few Villa boys, a couple of Nicco’s friends from university and like two of Filippo’s friends. For the millionth time Gio was realizing how much better his life was because of all the people he collected on his way. He just knew that he would burn the world to the ground if it meant that his friends, that his family would be fine. These past few months had proved that they would burn the world to the ground time and time again for him too. Giovanni, couldn't believe how lucky he was.

Eventually, his glance landed on Ele and Edo who were sitting on a corner and chatting. Following the things he learned in the past days he couldn’t help but watch them carefully. Neither of them seemed to be drinking but they were smiling and laughing at times. Onw time Ele even threw her head back as she laughed. They seemed so so much better which made Gio happy and content. Just as everybody else in this room they deserved to be happy. His eyes met with Ele and then Edo too and he nodded and smiled at them. The couple waved at him and he raised his beer up (again) to say hello. Gio understood that Eleonora and Edoardo was going to fight whatever happened to them together.

A minute later Eva walked up to him and pulled him into the ‘dance floor’. Gio gladly followed her into the middle of it and they took their place next to their other friends. A somewhat upbeat song was playing so Gio loosely wrapped his arms around Eva’s waist and the started to sway and move and jump up at some points. Eva had her one arm on his shoulder and the other was up in a cheery way. They laughed at themselves before leaning into a kiss. When they broke apart the song had turned into a slower one. Gio and Eva got closer physically and Gio started to play with Eva’s long and soft hair that fall down to her back. At one point she got up on her tiptoes for another kiss and Gio just lifted her up from the ground. 

When they broke apart the kiss Gio saw, over Eva’s shoulder in the corner of his eyes, Elia disappear into the corridor with Filippo following not so apart. They seemed to be trying to be discrete but for Giovanni they didn’t have much success. Gio realized Nicco was watching the same sight that he was watching. Gio and Nicco shared a little glance before focusing back on their respective partners. Gio really wished Elia would come and talk to him about it and he wished that Filippo was making him happy.

 

* * *

 

The moment they were out of the light of the living room Elia pushed Filippo to the wall and kissed him passionately. Once that kiss was over they looked at each other smiling before Filippo pushed Elia to the opposite wall and started kissing him passionately. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!!! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Check my tumblr for the SOCIAL MEDIA part of this story : https://youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com/post/190127556721/social-media-au-for-the-final-chapter-of-my
> 
> Firstly, thanks to everybody that read this story, to everybody that left a kudos and a comment. Your comments really made my day and kept me going back when I was writing more regularly.
> 
> A couple of notes:
> 
> -In the first clip I mentioned "Piazza della Republica" I searched some Italian articles to see if there was a place like protests would happen and they mentioned there a couple of times but if that's wrong feel free to tell me.
> 
> -I searched some laws of Italy about sexual assault but I loosely based Ele's testimony etc. on WTfock's storyline of Zoe this season. Still, from what I read the things I wrote doesn't conflict with Italian law. Watching WTfock I realized while writing this story I forgot about Ele's season's that story so I wanted to give it a half conclusion and not break Ele and Edo up.
> 
> -I also realized while I was so focused on the original story I wrote for Gio I forgot about Marti's actions of season 1. It's something I actually want a real Jonas character season to explore. So I kinda referenced it and have plans to write about it if I continue with an...Elia season.
> 
> -So, with the last shot, with camera following Elia, it's clear that I want to do an Elia season. Considering the Elippo background story I wrote for Gio's season it seemed fitting. Also, I think I understand the boy squad, I want to explore Elia more and I like this universe I created. In the following months I plan to do an Elia season. It will be much more scheduled with me posting every week or every two weeks instead of updating every two days and burning out in the end.
> 
> -I AM SO HAPPY SKAM IT IS BACK FOR A SEASON 4 AND HOPEFULLY WE MIGHT SEE SOME OTHER SEASONS TOO! 
> 
> That was a long note! Applauds to you if you read all of it!
> 
> Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! 
> 
> Any reviews and comments would be amazing!
> 
> I planned the whole 10 episodes with clips but I'm still open to ideas (so things might change on the course)
> 
> Also tell me your expectations of what is there to come!
> 
> You can send your feedback to my tumblr : youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com
> 
> You can watch a trailer for the Giovanni season accompanying the fic here : 
> 
> https://youleavebehindmemories.tumblr.com/post/185628367901/giovanni-garau-season-5-trailer-made-by-the
> 
> (PS: I started this before the end of the season so if things happen in canon that are conflicting with here that's why.)


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